"Franken Paper"

 Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all having a great week. I have been busy, and I needed a bit of time out.....It is great weather for crafting here at the moment. Great for staying indoors and warm....

Sometimes when I am in between projects, I like to take a break and do something that doesn't require much thought and is relaxing for me, just to puddle with my paper, glue, and/or sewing machine.....

As crafters, we always have scraps, with lots of different bits and pieces left over. I thought I may make a sort of eclectic journal and create some "franken or patchwork pages....  

FRANKEN PAPER TUTORIAL  - I have linked a great tutorial for you on YouTube by Nic The Booksmith. I have been following her for quite a while now, since I started Junk Journaling.

These are really fun, and you can use any sort of paper to create some very interesting new pieces.

I used a piece of baking paper roughly the size of the pages I want. This gave me a non-stick surface to work on, and a guide. These will be folded in half to make my pages. I used random pieces and glued the edges so they are connected. Since I will be sewing them, I let the glue dry. You can use PVA to adhere them down securely.

I've been making quite a few pages with my scraps. No particular way, just random. You will have the front and backs done. If you like to journal, you can intentionally leave some blank areas to write on, or add photos to. I have made a few neutral pages and found more papers to add from my scrap box. These could also be used to make ephemera, journal covers, snippet rolls, masterboards, etc, which would be very pretty.

These are a few of the papers that I have machine-stitched to show you, and folded in half.

Here, you can see the effect of my machine stitching. I have also used a permanent marker to add crosses, and you could also do dashes as your faux stitching. Stamps are another great way to add stitches to your paper.

You can also add extra embellishments if you like. Stickers, trims, fabric, etc.....No rules. It's your project!

 (Just a tip for sewing paper: I have a separate needle for paper and one for fabric) The paper dulls your needle and makes it much easier to sew, using a new needle for your fabric projects.

I do have some pages that I haven't used, so they may be another journal to add a sewing project to, or I could also make them into pockets, tags, etc. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you found some inspiration to have fun creating new papers from your scraps. These can be used to make anything for your journals.  I am making a journal with these pieces, so I will share as soon as I can.

Have fun

Hugz, Kerri x