Quick and Creative: DIY scrap pad

Junk Journals, Quick & Creative

If you’re like me and enjoy getting creative with paper, then you mostly have little piles of scraps laying around. These cute little scrap pads are perfect for using up all those pretty paper bits! Plus, the best part about these pads…besides being so aesthetically pleasing…. is that you can tear the sheets out!

What you’ll need:

  • scrap paper pieces: ledger paper, book pages, printed papers, old wallpaper, magazine pages, etc.
  • a sewing machine

What to do:

Stack up your papers, starting with the largest scraps on the bottom. Then run them through your sewing machine! It’s pretty straight forward! But here’s a few tips that I figured out after making quite a few of them.

  • use papers of similar weight in each pad…. this is important since you’ll need to adjust the stitch length based on how thick your papers are.
  • use a shorter stitch length for thicker papers. I use a 1.5 for card stock and a 2.5 for thinner/softer papers like old book pages. This part will require a bit of experimenting to figure out the best length for your papers. You want the stitches close enough together that the pages come out easily, but not so close that they fall out too easily.
  • leave at least a 1/2 inch margin at the top, so that you have something to hold on to as you tear out each sheet.

That’s pretty much it! You’re itching to go make some, aren’t you? Then go!

Happy creating!

Quick & Creative: donut hole reinforcements

Planners, Quick & Creative

Want to add some simple sweetness to you planner? How about this? Take basic hole reinforcement stickers and doodle them into colorful donuts!

Time: 5-10 minutes

Supplies: fine tip markers, hole reinforcement stickers

Directions: color!

Happy Doodling!

Quick & Creative: DIY Washi Tape Strips

Printables, Quick & Creative

I just love making gifts and packages as pretty as possible…don’t you?

As I was putting some pretty packages together, it occurred to me that maybe you all would enjoy a little How-To and free printable pattern for making your own Mini Washi Tape!  I just figured this out awhile ago… and now use it often to make all my Happy Mail pretty!

It’s super Cute…super Easy… and much cheaper than real Washi Tape! 🙂

All you need is:

– 1/2x 1 3/4 inch mailing labels

– printable pattern (I gotcha covered on this one!)

– pinking shears

– color printer

What you do:

1. Just click on the gingham patterns at the end of this post to make them full size and save them to your desktop

2. Open in pretty much any applications… anything that will open a photo (.jpeg file) and allow you to print it full sized (approx. 8 1/2 x 11)

3. Print pattern on label paper

4. Peel off the paper in the margin areas (not the label part) so that just the labels are left.

5. Then cut into strips, with pinking shears,  along edges of each column of labels… as shown in photo.

It’s that EASY!  Now you can use them for just about anything!… you can even write on them!

*** You could also do the same thing with round labels and make your own sticker/seals… (see the photos below! and visit my ETSY SHOP for MANY more printable patterns/digital papers!)

Please leave a comment and let me know what ya think! 

Click on pattern images below to view full-sized image… then just save!

Patterns are for personal use only and may not be sold or distributed.

Blessings,