Store Ephemera Where You Will Use Them by Betsy Skagen

There's a good chance you have a lot of ephemera. I do too. However, I have it stored away in so many different places and in so many boxes, that I often can't find it when I am in the middle of a project.

To combat this problem, I made a desktop ephemera storage box. While it certainly can't hold all my ephemera, I can keep it filled with different odds and ends that I can use in upcoming projects. This is especially helpful for those of you who like to make junk journals and art planners. What's more, it makes for some fun eye candy.

Tutorial How to Make the Ephemera Storage Box

Begin by loosely putting together the Memory Keeping Organizer just so you can see what goes where. Because there are so many dividers, this could be confusing to assemble without any guidance. Thankfully, you can download instructions when you order this box.

Next, one piece at a time, place a strong adhesive (I like Beacon Fabri-Tac for projects like these) on both sides of the tabs and begin assembling the interior of the box. 

Continue this process until you have the interior completely constructed.

Add each of the four box sides, again using a strong adhesive on each side of the tabs. Once it is fully assembled and the glue has dried, cover the box with a spray primer. After the primer dries, paint the box with dark brown spray paint.

Trace each side of the exterior of the box onto decorative cardstock, cut out and use matte medium adhere to the box sides. Because two of the sides are longer than 12", you will need to splice paper together. After all the paper is adhered, cover the box with two coats of matte medium. This will strengthen and protect the box so it lasts for years to come. 

Use ink or paint to brown the edges of the tabbed dividers. Trace the dividers onto decorative cardstock, cut out and adhere to both sides of all the dividers with matte medium. 

Ink the edges of the the dividers with brown ink.

Cut out words from a vintage book, ink the edges and adhere to the tabs to create fun nonsensical labels. 

Use rubber stamps and ink to add further interest to your dividers.

Coat each of the dividers with matte medium to protect them from wear and tear. 

Perhaps you are wondering if a storage container made from chipboard is strong enough to handle everyday use. I can assure you that you don't need to worry as long as you put enough protective sealer on it. I have made several of Gypsy Soul's boxes. One I made four years ago gets used on a daily basis since I store my go-to art supplies in it. sits on my art table. It looks as good as the day I made it. 

All that is left to do is fill up your new storage container with your favorite goodies and enjoy! -Betsy

Great Stuff

Memory Keeping Organizer
Memory Keeping Large Dividers
Memory Keeping Small Dividers
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Primer
Brown spray paint
Decorative cardstock
Paper Artsy Stamps
Seth Apter Stamps
Vintage Photo and Peacock Feathers distressed inks
Matte medium

Pretty Standing Flip Book

It crossed my mind to use this standing flip book to create something practical . I had thought of maybe a daily "to-do" list, or daily affirmations and meditations. That didn't happen. Instead I got down to some serious stash busting!

I dug deep into my paper hoard and used papers from my Graphic 45 days. I've used a mish-mash of older collections, I mostly used Botanical Tea and Time to Flourish.

I added a little sort of nest of flowers at the base... again busting the stash!

Assembly was SUPER simple. I only have two bits of advice... 

1. Be wary of adding a large design element at the top. It's so temping, but it may hinder the flipping of the pages.

2. When assembling the base leave the areas that slide together unembellished. This will help the pieces to fit together much more easily.

You know, I've always been more of a silver fox than a golden girl... but I had a bunch of dresden in my stash and I might be swayed to the other side.

Most of the butterflies I've used have been fussy cut from the G45 papers, but the ones below are stickers from... the dollar store! Aren't they pretty?!

The flip book comes with 6 chipboard pages so there is loads of room to play and experiment.

I was rather heavy handed with the dimention on the pages and there was still loads of wiggle room. You could easily add plenty of your own additional pages.

Want to make your own pretty flip book? You'll find the supply list below.

Supplies List:

Standing Flip BookFaux Metal Number Plates 1 to 25
Graphic 45 papers
Metallic Dresden
Twig Vine Garland
Paper flowers
Flatback pearls

Snarky Clipboards by Jess Madaglia

Hi Everyone,
It's the new kid on the block! My name is Jess and I am so excited to share my first project with you.
I created some mini clipboards and they are super easy to make.

I started with my blank clipboard.  They come four to a package and you get the bases, the clips, and the clip cover.

I did a light messy layer of gesso on the base and clip cover.

Once my gesso was dry I started to layer on vintage papers.  I used a whole bunch of random bits.  I can't read dictation, but how perfect is this little bit for this project? I just ripped and layered until I covered the whole board.

I added some scraps of patterned paper, smudged on a bit of acrylic paint, and topped the whole thing off with a layer of collage medium.

Once the collage medium was dried I used Distress Crayons to grunge up the paper.

 The lovely lady was added and her quote.  I stuck these on with collage medium too.

While the collage medium dried I glued my clip to the clip cover.  I painted the clip cover, but decided that wasn't quite working.  Embossing powder was the answer to my problem.
A few scribbles were added around the lady and the quote.  Clipboard complete!

I made a second board using the same technique, but I added some stamps and washi tape to this one.

I hope you enjoyed my first project.  I can't wait to show you what I have up my sleeve for my next post.
Jess

Gypsy Soul Products Used:
mini clipboards

Other Products Used:
Acrylic Paint
Archival Ink-Jet Black
Collage medium
Distress Crayons
Embossing Powder
Gesso
Strong Adhesive
Various patterned papers and vintage papers
Washi Tape