Field Notes -- An Expanding Mini Journal

Welcome! Today is the start of the second week of our two week challenge at Frilly and Funkie, and that means the Funkie side of the team gets to inspire you with their creations.  I am privileged to host the current challenge titled 'Back to Nature'. I hope you'll pop over to the blog to see all the amazing inspiration by both the Frilly and Funkie Design Team members.

Here's the brief:  Having just returned from our annual trek to the mountains of West Virginia where we observed so much natural beauty on our hikes, I couldn't help but make my challenge nature themed. You can make anything you like, from a card or tag to altered art, just be sure to include a natural element in your vintage or shabby chic project. Think real twigs, leaves, shells, pebbles. Or you could include a die cut or a stamped or stenciled image representing a natural object.

For my project, I decided to make an expanding pocket album, inspired by this tutorial by Sheila. Her samples are so neat and precise! She uses purchased coin envelopes but I made a template to cut mine. I also adjusted her measurements to fit my needs. Otherwise,  I just copied her album, putting my natural spin on it.

The Cover

To make the cover, I cut a length of manila file folder to the length and width I needed and embossed with Lumber 3D Texture Fade. I had to do some strategic folding of the card to get one continuous strip of wood grain. I layered Distress crazing, paint, crayons, and oxides until I was satisfied with the texture and color.

I colored the inside of the embossed piece with Ground Espresso and Weathered Wood paint. I cut my chipboard pieces to my desired size and covered them with paper from Wallflower paper stash. The panel's edges were blended with Ground Espresso ink. I adhered them to the prepared 'bark' strip using collage medium. I left about 1/8 inch between the individual panels so the box would fold properly. Lastly, I scored between each of the panels. I adhered magnets to the inside flap and front panel. These were not the best magnets to use; too thick to put under the paper, and they don't have the best grab. But they were the best I could get locally.

I used some die cut Fall Foliage leaves along with a twig tied with twine, mica chips and pebbles from my stash to decorate the flap. I cut the leaves from card I coated with DecoArt crackle paint and colored them with  Peeled Paint Distress Crayon and Twisted Citron oxide ink.

 The Quote chip serves as my title,  sanded and inked with Frayed Burlap and Ground Espresso.

The Pockets

I made a coin envelope template using the one I made for my Vintage Mail Folio, just reducing it in size. I traced and cut 7 from cream card stock and cut the top flaps off. I colored them with oxides (colors in links below) and stamped with Newsprint from Newsprint and Type set by Tim Holtz in black archival ink. Each one is edged with Frayed Burlap ink. I wasn't concerned over getting a good impression, since most of the stamping will not be seen on the finished product. Each was assembled and glued.

I applied super sticky tape to the center of the envelopes and layered them up on top of each other. I adhered the first and last envelope to the front and back cover to form an accordion mechanism out of the pockets.

The Tags

(Apologies over the color variation. My indoor photo light died, and it's going to be a couple of weeks before a replacement is shipped. Some of my photos were taken before the bulb blew.The light was fading as I took these photos outdoors. Just pretend the colors are the same in the second photo above as the first, which reflects the actual colors.)

I cut more cream card to fit into the envelopes, to make removable note cards which can be taken with me to make observations when I'm hiking. I cut 9 in all to make up 7 cards. I made them just a bit longer than the pockets, so they could easily be removed. I die cut 4 different Wildflowers from the #2 set from kraft card (Autumn gave me a pile of this great card when we met and crafted at the lake last spring, and I've been hoarding it. Thank you, Autumn!) I die cut words into 2 of the note cards using the Mixed Media #6 and Thin Pondering Words dies.

I adhered a plain card to the back on the one reading 'Collect' and stamped 'Miscellaneous' (Purveyor) in Watering Can ink.

I blended Antique Linen and Walnut Stain DOX on one of the plain cards and later used that to back the 'Found' card, creating an ombre' background for the die cut letters.

I adhered a wildflower to each of the die cut cards and to two of the others.

The tiniest leaves from the Fall Foliage set were cut and adhered to another card.  I dabbed a little watered down Peeled Paint Distress Crayon on them. Each card was dipped into puddles of DOX and dried until I achieved my desired effect.  This was done to each side (not photographed). I did some stamping on 5 of the panels in potting soil ink using the script from Ledger Script. I painted on a thin layer of collage medium over the front of each card to protect it and to give some additional stiffness to the card, but left the backs without any medium so I could write my field notes on them.

I hope you've picked up some 'Natural' ideas and will play along in Frilly and Funkie's current challenge, 'Back to Nature'.  As always, the Design Team will choose our four favorites from the entries, and one winner will earn the chance of a Guest Designer spot at Frilly and Funkie. If that's not enough to tempt you to play along, one lucky winner will score a generous $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Please visit Frilly and Funkie for all the details. I hope to see you there!

Challenge shares:

Mini Album Makers August

Scrapy Land Challenge #96 Anything Goes I used 4 Sizzix die sets.
Country View Challenges August 2018 - Sun, Sea and Sand
Love 2 Create Challenge #11, Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
The Artistic Stamper August's Creative Challenge - Anything Goes I used 3 stamp sets.
Let's Craft and Create Challenge #140 - ANYTHING GOES + option LOTS OF LAYERS
Love to Scrap LTSCB #112 - Old School!
Die Cut Divas' Silhouettes I used silhouettes on the note cards.
SumMore Fun Mood Board Challenge #35 I was inspired by the earthy colors, the letter tiles, and the wood siding.

Thank you for stopping by! If you have questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below.  I hope you'll join me at Frilly and Funkie this coming Saturday for our Saturday Showcase.

Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

The following products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

(MAY PRE-ORDER) Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Lumber	Sizzix® Thinlits Die Set 14PK - Fall Foliage by Tim Holtz	(APRIL pre-order) Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 30PK - Pondering Words, Thin by Tim Holtz	(APRIL PRE-ORDER) Sizzix Thinlits Set - Mixed Media #6 by Tim Holtz	(February Pre-order) Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 7PK - Wildflowers #2 by Tim Holtz
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Newsprint and Type CMS266 (April Pre-Order)	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ledger Script	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Purveyor	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips	Wallflower Paper Stash
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDAK47933 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDAK47957 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Weathered Wood
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926 (February Pre-order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #2 TDBK47919 (February Pre-order)	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Antique Linen	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Bundled Sage	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fossilized Amber
(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Iced Spruce	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Twisted Citron	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Potting Soil	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can
Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Paint