When I became a member of the AJP crew, I also inherited a challenge of a different kind, where and how to store my pages.  I have very limited space and so a binder to collect them in was out of the question.  So I have been creating mini journals for them by altering the AJP sheets.  

The above houses my AJP Challenge for February “Fairy Tales” and I took a little different approach on my binding. For the challenge I used Tangie Baxter's AJP Sheets 149 and 150 which are part of the Art Journal Pockets Workshop.

I altered the pockets by cutting them on the horizontal and then binding the 3 sheets with a brace cut from a freezer bag.  I used two braces, 1 between top and middle and 1 between the middle and bottom portions.  The braces are approx. ¾” by 3”,  by positioning the end of top portion a little off the middle to the brace and then fusing it with The Fuse Tool by We R Memory Keepers, then the beginning of the middle portion on the other half of the brace and fusing it, at that point the two sections are one and the same process with the bottom portion to connect all.

Once it is one horizontal strip I can then accordion fold them and create a storage cover it.

The spine of the cover was created using a piece of corrugated cardboard, I spray painted inside and out with Design Master® TintIT™ sprays, dripping the Gold Shimmer color so it would run from the bottom to the top, creating the sea plants for the seahorses to swim in, I then outlined the plants with black micron pens.  I created a block for the “Once upon a time…” and then distressed it using Tim Holtz®Distress Inks.

The metal chain and photo corners are also by Tim Holtz®.  The Seahorses on the front cover are elements created and cut with the Silhouette Cameo® from TB Sheet 149 which is part of the Art Journal Pockets Workshop and colored with Derwent® Inktense pencils.

The Octopus is an existing charm I already had.  The dimensions of the carrier is 3 ½” X 4”.  The AJPs were attached to cover with red line tape ¾” .  My little Fairy Tale is now all ready to be stored away in a very small place.  There is peace and organization in the lane.

For more information on Art Journal Pockets visit Art Journal Pockets- Tangie Baxter & CO.

[posted by Sandi Kelly]