Eileen Hull Pocket Notebook Junk Journal with Emerson Lane by Heidi Swapp!

Hello Eileen Hull fans! This month the Inspiration Team is playing with one of my favorite things to do... Junk Journals!!! It also gave me the perfect opportunity to use a kit I bought quite awhile ago. Luckily it is still available. One of my favorite designers that I hoard like mad is Heidi Swapp. I love her stuff and buy multiples and store it for like ever. I have an extensive collection! This is an important post as I also talk about Heidi's Light the Fight Podcast & why, if you have kids you will want to tune in. Grab a cuppa & let's go!

I was determined to use this collection & this month was the time. While traditional Junk Journals have things like used mail, envelopes, book paper etc there are a lot that are also made with scrapbook paper or digitals. I will do a combo of that. 

My book was cut from mat board using the Pocket Notebook die. I just love the size of this book. The cover measures just under 4.75" x 6.75". 2 pieces of the kit paper were cut to fit the front & back. The edges were inked with Colorblends in Nutmeg. Same distressing for the ephemera which was layered- such a cool look! Those vellum pieces are nummy.

The spine of this book is 2" wide but you can adjust it by adding extra or cutting back the existing spine. I went with the die cut full size, which has room for 5 booklets or signatures.

The spine was inked with the Nutmeg & some water added to blend the color out. Really fits the paper of the covers. Inspiration struck to use Tim Holtz tissue paper over this. Really love the look & it was super simple. Just add Collage Medium on the spine working a third of the spine at a time adding the tissue, so the glue stays wet. I also added a coat of glue on top. Let that dry & re-punch the holes. You may want to do the same to the inside of the book.

I went with a hidden binding. Using elastic that is about 1mm wide, start with one of the middle holes and just thread through keeping the length of the elastic on the inside & threading across the holes on the outside. One of my favorite closures for these books is an elastic that can be adjusted as the book gets fatter. To make it even easier use a brad through the center hole to fasten the elastic to the spine. Add a fun chain with some charms, or strings of beads- whatever goes with the theme of your project.

Let's Make Some Booklets

I started making 2 booklets for my project & adding a 3rd lined notebook. This way I can add more books when I figure out what is needed. I cut the paper for my notebooks 6.5" tall by 8" wide. When the paper is folded the books are a touch smaller than the cover.

Light The Fight Notebook. 

This whole project was designed to have a place to hold my notes from Light the Fight. I have been meaning to social media this subject for ages. This is the perfect project to talk about Heidi Swapp's podcast, with therapist David Kozlowski. 5 years ago Heidi's son Cory committed suicide. It is one of the moments in my life that I remember exactly where I was when I read the news. Eileen & I were driving back on the Papertrail from Chicago. It was late at night on our 2nd day of driving. 

 

Photos shared with permission from Heidi Swapp

I read the so sad news. The killer that every parent raising a child today has to worry about. Heidi had decided to talk about how her son Cory died. As I read this post out loud to Eileen we were just devastated for Heidi. I had not met her yet but at the time I knew that somehow Heidi would turn this horrible tragedy into something important.

Cory & Heidi from Instagram

18 months ago the Light the Fight podcast was born. It is simply the most amazing resource for parents trying to navigate this crazy time in life with their pre-teens & teens. It is brilliant. The advice that David dishes out is invaluable. It got me though some rough times with my daughter improving our relationship immensely. It changed a lot about how I parent. I have a long way to go and a lot of the podcast still to listen to. Living in a world with Covid there is a lot to learn.

 

Meeting Heidi Swapp at Creativation 2020

Light the Fight has helped me to relate to my college age sons & understand better what their struggles were & continue to be. 

If you have kids- please take a listen & be sure to keep a notebook handy. The advice & explanations for kids struggles in this day & age are gold. 

Suicide is a family nightmare and the more knowledge on how to relate to & help our kids, the better chance they have. You have the bonus of learning with Heidi as she puts a human face on a lot of the situations with her own kids, being coached by David on issues we all face. The inside of this book is simple as it is for note taking. I filled the signature with random pages from calendar papers, agenda papers, lined etc. Added stamping, sticker & labels adds interest. 

Time to make more pages because I need more than 1 book. My 2nd book is made from papers from the collection. The cover has a lot of the Emerson Lane but also blasts from the past. The butterfly & arrow are vintage Heidi, colored with ink. Even the paperclip is from one of the older collections.

The inside cover of the booklet has room for notes & the other page has a pocket for one of the cards cut from the paper pack. I am not sure what photos I will add in here yet but capturing the memories is so so important. 

Re-Purpose An Envelope!

This is one of my favorite ways to add some fun to my junk journal. There are some Envelopes in the Emerson Lane collection as in the one on the right. I simply added some ink, back ground stamping & die cut leaves  as shown below. The other window envelope was made by recycling a mail envelope. Simply glue left over pieces of the paper, distress edges add some ephemera. The butterfly is a fun way to add a tab to my tag, cut using one of Eileen's dies.

Using some of the paper from the collection & the Journal Card, Flower & leaves die to cut some leaves out. These make great embellishments & a journal card or photo mat. 

Add A Mini Book 

How about a book in a book? Using Eileen's Tiny Book diecut to make this cute mini book, is quick & easy. Simply cut & decorate the cover. Don't you love that wax seal???? Yup from the Emerson Lane Collection. This booklet can be tucked in a pocket or clipped to a page.

Loose leaf paper, book print & music paper was used for the inside signature. Punch 2 holes & bind with wax thread adding a few beads & charms.

Here is the inside cover of the booklet. I used a mat board rick rack piece from the new Mitten die cut. Plus the kits ephemera. This book is tiny! 

  

Let's Add a Tuck Spot!

Cut a shape & adhere it to your page so you can tuck envelopes or tags in there. The butterfly die cut was added to give the tuck some pop along with a quote from the kit. These are just a few ideas for you. 

If you want more inspiration you can check out my flip though video of my December Junk Journal.

Thanks so much for joining me today. Thanks to Heidi for bringing Light the Fight into the world and sharing her story to help others. Make sure you check out her Instagram & website for much more info & inspiration. 

Remember to check back all month to see what my Inspiration Team Mates are up to. Don't forget to join the Eileen Hull Fan Club on Facebook and enjoy Eileen's creative live videos & projects Tuesday & Thursdays. Now go get inky!!

Supplies:

Eileen Hull by Sizzix- Pocket Notebook, Tiny Book, Mitten Box

"          "- Birds & Butterflies, 

Colorblends

Heidi Swapp Emerson Lane Collection

Tim Holtz Tissue Paper

Collage Medium by Ranger

Create a Moveable Habit Tracker for Planners!

I need more organization that is simple & saves time so I created a moveable Habit Tracker for my planners. This month the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team are getting organized! I have been seeing Habit Trackers everywhere & to be honest I just really wanted to join in the "color in the box" craze!! However there are also some habits I want to change, or track, & some I want to re-enforce. Habit Tracking seems a perfect way to do that. Life gets so busy I can't remember if I flossed 2 days or 2 weeks ago.

I created these simple to duplicate trackers that fit right into my existing planners but move easily each week so I have a good view of how I am doing. I did not want this to become another to do list that creates clutter & seems unattainable. I also love washi tape & don't use enough of my massive stash so win, win. If I actually also create better habits- bonus round! 

I currently have 3 planners.

1: The family planner that everybody living in the house, schedules go into. I also have my things to do that pertain to regular life like, call Mom.... or important dates for my College kids. Bill payment due dates go into this too. This sits open in the kitchen & I look at it about 1000 times a day.

2: My Art & business agenda. Just what it implies, my class design, design team schedule, deadlines, social media due dates etc. My classes & crops also go in here which is duplicated in the house planner but for this planner it is more about prepping for and blocking out time that can't be spent in my "Hideous Monstrosity" (yes that is what my studio is right now) working on projects. This gives me a more realistic deadline time. I have this agenda by my computer & look at it about 500 times a day. I sometimes paint & do wipe off stamps in this to add color & fun but it is mainly functional.

3. My least used is my fitness journal. Mainly as I only put my workouts & current health goals in here. Occasionally I track food if I am working on my allergy issues. 

What I did not want out of a habit tracker was to take my non-existent free time & clutter it up further or have a system that was not sustainable. I did not want to have to write out my tracker over & over but I did want something I could add color to & some design. I was an athlete in earlier days so I think a system like this could really make me stay on track. I am fairly goal oriented & am hoping the color in the box will act as a reward & help motivate me. Cause as an artist color in the box with color pencils, or markers or water color...fun times.

Let's Make Habit Tracker Pages! 

I have been using a Becky Higgins philosophy for awhile now "start with the goal in mind". I tend to take easy things & make them complicated. This is a habit I am changing because who has time for that? I started my tracker by hand writing on graph paper. Super easy & took no time at all. I blocked off space for my washi binding system & made 1 month fit on 1 page. There is space to write in the name of the month. I copied this 3x. I left some space on the bottom to add if I need to, but I thought 3 months was a good amount of time to start. Remember I am trying to "keep it simple superstar" (KISS principle). If I want to tweak it I can for the future but I will not have to for the next while.

I did learn that the graph paper portion really doesn't transfer well. I simply cut out and pasted the missing graph portion. I will know for the next template that will need to be drawn in or the list portion needs to be cut & pasted. Now for the fun part. I added some washi tape to the sides, stamped the month. I have room to further decorate if I want to.

Let's Cut Some Holes

Using Eileen's Book Binding die on the mover's & shaker base plate I placed the die on top of the backside of my paper to hold it in place. It is magnetized and holds quite firmly.

I folded my paper over & used other magnets to hold the paper down in position. You need to be careful to cover these free magnets with a cutting pad so they don't get sucked up into your cutting machine. In this photo you can see how I simply shift the die cut further down the page lining it up with just the top binding hole so the cutting is evenly spaced.

Carefully place the cutting pad on top, making sure the paper stays lined up with the die. Run through your machine. Vagabond, Big Shot are just a few that work with this die.

Now my Habit Tracker page is easily inserted into my agenda all ready for April. I can't wait to start coloring the little boxes!! Each week I can easily move this page into the next week. Now to make one for my Art & Business Agenda! I hope you hop over to Eileen's blog to see what other organizing inspiration the team has for you!!