Christmas in July - Christmas Card 'Junk Journal'

Hi everyone and Happy Weekend!

Today I'd like to introduce Design Team Member Sarah who is making her debut on the blog *throws balloons and streamers in the air* by showing us how to make a Junk Journal out of Christmas cards. What a fabulous way to recycle those old cards and create, create, create.........

Christmas Card Journal with Sarah:

 1. Choose a selection of Christmas cards. These may be new, leftover and unused, or used ones you’ve received. Whether you use ones all the same size, or different is up to you.

2. Choose the card that you would like as a cover and lay it out flat. Lay ribbon or twine across the centre of the card and choose some sort of tape (such as deco or duct tape) to run down the spine of your journal. Adhere the tape over the ribbon and wrap to the inside so that you have a nice finished edge. You now have a reinforced spine and ribbon closure for your journal.

 If you don’t like the edge of your tape showing, adhere some ribbon along the edge like I have done.

3. Choose the cards you would like to use as pages and stack them inside one another. Once you have decided on the innermost card, lay it out flat and measure along the fold line of the card. Mark the centre of the line, as well as either side of this mark at 1 inch intervals.

4. Place this card back inside the rest and flatten them. Keep the cards together with bull-dog clips or large paper clips. Using a paper piercer (or similar) make a hole on each of the marks on the crease line of the innermost card, punching through all of the cards to the cover.

5. Select thin ribbon, twine, or strong thread to bind your journal together. Thread a needle and knot the end, leaving a long tail. Starting at the top of the book, thread the ribbon/twine/thread through the top hole, from the outside to the inside. This will leave the knot and tail on the outside of the book.

6. Weave in and out of the holes in a 'zigzag' pattern. Inside to outside hole 2, outside to inside hole 3 etc until you reach the bottom.

7. Once you've reached the bottom, do the same thing back to the top. Knot the end of your binding inside the journal before threading back out the top hole. Knot again here, leaving two tails hanging out the top hole (the start and end of your thread). Finish the binding how you choose - I've tied two bells to my journal but you might finish with a bow, or leave some twine hanging.

8. Now your journal is bound together. Remove the bull-dog/ paper clips and un-flatten your journal. Now get to decorating! Use washi tape, stickers, stamping, and anything else you can think of to cover up logos or sentiments. I've fussy cut and coloured some stamped images to cover the backs of some cards, while sticking three sides of scrap card stock down creates a nice pocket on the inside of some pages.

9. Finally, the edge of your journal may be uneven like mine. If you like a nice finished edge, use a craft knife, scissors or a guillotine to trim off the excess. And presto - your Christmas journal is complete and ready to use!

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Isn't this the most fabulous idea! I know I'll be giving it a try.
Thank you Sarah!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Aunty Vera :)

Christmas Cards in July

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Don't forget that we are running a Christmas in July Sale on the website this month. Simply use the code July on checkout to receive 20% off your entire purchase.

Here are some more lovely Christmas cards from Team Designer Leanne....... have you started your Christmas card making yet? December will be here before we know it!

Have a fabulous crafty weekend!
Aunty Vera :)

It's Christmas in July!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!
Happy 4th of July to all our American friends xx

We have a very exciting month planned in Aunty Vera Land.....we're celebrating Christmas in July!
That means lots of savings on the website, with our July Sale event being 20% off your entire purchase! But you need to enter the secret code when you go through checkout.......

We'll also be moving lots of goodies into our Christmas in July SUPER SPECIALS aisle....... check back often as we're adding more every day and when these goodies are gone...they're GONE!

And we'll be sharing some great Christmas craft here on the blog. You may laugh and think Christmas is still MONTHS away but time is flying by, so why not start your Christmas Card making nice and early and avoid that adrenaline-fueled rush of making all your cards on the 1st of December (not that I know anything about that .....haha).

Here's a card from Team Designer Leanne to get you started. Remember Bo Bunny's Elf Magic?
I SO loved that collection. Such fun designs. Wish I had added more of it to my Stash!

We'll also be having some fun giveaways both on our facebook page AND in our facebook group....the difference between the two? Like our PAGE to see the latest products and ideas from Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft. Join our GROUP to chat with other crafty friends, share your creations and stories, join in swaps and challenges and just have a whole lot of fun!

Hope to see you throughout the month!
Aunty Vera :)

Road Test Friday - Distress Custom Blend ink pads

Hi everyone! Welcome to our first ever Friday Road Test! We'll be giving our Road Testers new products to try out and reporting back the results and (hopefully) great experiences.

Today the Real Jenni brings us Real Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Custom Blend ink pads.

When I first saw these blank ink pads, I imagined Jenni squealing with delight. You see Jenni is a self-confessed Ink Addict and huge Tim Holtz fan, so these pads pretty much had her name written all over them! This is what she found:

"Wow, Tim Holtz has done it again with a DIY Ink Pad that he calls 'Custom Blend'.  All you need is some Distress Ink Reinkers"

"You simply use one dropper full of the reinker, and rub it into the pad... overlaping the colours slightly so as there is no gap visible"

"It has a special blank lid that you can stamp with the inked-up pad to create a custom label.....its awesome" 

"This the result............Fantastic!"

What a brilliant product! Definitely one to add to the Ink Stash.
Thanks Jenni for driving these around the block for us. They definitely passed inspection!

Happy Friday everyone!
Aunty Vera :)