Tag Archives: 6 x 6 journal

A Road Trip Journal for Dad – Part 2

November 13, 2015Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Upcycling6 x 6 journal, 6 x 6 scrapbook, 7gypsies, acetate, Bird Kingdom, Carolyn's Stamp Store, digistamps, digital stamp, mini scrapbook, mixed media scrapbook page, months of the year stamps, Niagra Falls, paper crafting, paper crafts, photo negatives, road trip journal, road trip photo caption stamps, rubber stamping, rubber stamps, scrapbook, transparency film, year date stampschasenfratz

For this past Father’s Day I made my Dad a blank 6 x 6 journal for a trip we took to Toronto and New York City. Dad wrote notes about our activities in the journal during the trip and we are slowly filling the book in with photos. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite layouts as we go.

Because the pages are 6 x 6 inches, I’m using a smaller than normal photo format. Using Photoshop, I am making 4 x 6 inch photo montages that I am having printed at a local drug store. I cut the prints apart and end up with images that are small enough to fit several on a 6 x 6 page. We took a LOT of photos and I’m adding a lot of embellishments, so this book will probably eventually turn into several books.

Two page spread of 6 x 6 scrapbook pages that use discarded photo negatives as a decorative accent. — Two-page spread of 6 x 6 scrapbook pages that use discarded photo negatives as a decorative accent.

A client of mine threw out a bunch of old photos and negatives, so I saved some of the interesting ones to use in mixed-media artwork. The tiny negatives shown above have nothing to do with the subject matter of these two pages shown here but they are so small you can’t tell and I was intrigued by them as a design element. I decided to include some on these pages attached by tiny brads.

To unify the look of the pages, I downloaded some free digistamps and altered them into a frame graphic which fit my printed photos. I had the frames printed out on clear transparency film and layered the film over my photos with more of the brads. The “Beautiful” stamp and the decorative papers I used are from 7gypsies and the other rubber stamps are from my own Carolyn’s Stamp Store collection.

Links to some of the products I used:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners

Months of the Year Rubber Stamps

Photo Caption Word Stamps for Road Trips

Year Numbers Stamps 2

Handmade Birding Journal

October 1, 2015Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping6 x 6 journal, 6 x 6 scrapbook, 7gypsies, birding journal, birdwatching, book arts, Carolyn's Stamp Store, decorative paper, handmade journal, journaling cards, journaling stamps, make a birding journal, mini album, paper crafting, paper crafts, Project Life cards, scrapbooking paperchasenfratz

Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. — Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store.

Here is a great handmade gift idea for someone in your life that loves to watch birds. A blank journal like my sample provides places for notes, sketches, photos, memorabilia and more. Here is how to make one.

First download my free template, Square 6×6 Journal. Print it out and use it as a guide.

Cut out two pieces of chipboard for covers. Make a collage of bird related images for the front cover. Cover edges of cover with decorative paper. Cover inside front cover, inside back cover and back cover with decorative paper.

To assemble front cover, cut out a piece of acetate and punch small holes. Punch small holes in front cover collage and attach to cover with brads. Make pockets and attach to both inside covers with double sided tape. Cut out a number of pieces of cardstock for inside pages. Embellish with brayered backgrounds, sponged backgrounds, decorative papers, Project Life cards and rubber stamps. Punch holes in all pages and covers and compile together with binding rings. Open rings and add new pages as needed.

Here are some sample page spreads to give you ideas for the interior pages.

A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies. — A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies.

On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies. — On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.

On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies. — On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.

On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.

On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper - it's good for drawing a sketch and it's removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy. — On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper – it’s good for drawing a sketch and it’s removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy.

Stamps: Small word stamps are from Carolyn’s Stamp Store, other stamps are from 7gypsies.

Here are links to other products you can use for this project:

Binding Rings

Long Fasteners (Brads)

A Road Trip Journal for Dad – Part 1

August 24, 2015Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping6 x 6 journal, 7gypsies, Carolyn's Stamp Store, Father's Day present, handmade gift idea, handmade journal, journaling stamps, memory crafts, mini album, paper crafting, paper crafts, Project Life, road trip album, stencils, The Crafter's Workshop, Tim Holtz, trip journalchasenfratz

In June of this year I took a trip with my Dad to Toronto and New York City. I knew ahead of time that we would be traveling on Father’s Day, so I made a gift to present to him on the trip – a handmade journal for him to write in each day, which he did. The journal was designed so that after the trip we could add photos and ephemera and perhaps write more about our memories. I’m in the process of getting both of our photos printed so we can start working on it. I expect this will be a long term project and we will enjoy the time together that we spend on it and memories of the great trip we had. Below are photos of some of my favorite parts of the journal, as they looked before any content was added. In the future I’ll be sharing some our favorite layouts as we get them done.