Tuesday Tutorials : Jenni Bowlin : Favorite Quotes Swatch Book

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This week Tuesday Tutorials welcomes Jenni Bowlin.

Here's Jenni:

I am just crossing over the middle point of my Big Picture
Scrapbooking
12-week course called Re-Purpose, Re-think, Re-Invent. In preparation for class, I spent a lot of time contemplating ways to
recycle vintage items (those trapped in the dark corners of your attic or
awaiting discovery at the next Flea Market) into works of art.


As I have a love of all things worn and
shabby, I tend to think of “re-inventing” in terms of antique/vintage
materials. But . . . I am a
scrapbooker (and therefore a hoarder) just like many of you and in preparation
for this tutorial, I started to think of “recycling” in terms of scrapbook
material specifically. My goal
was to come up with a project that used a product I had laying around that was
either out of style, damaged, or as in this case, out of date! Check it out below and hopefully it
will inspire you to dig deep into your stash and come up with new ideas for the
“unusable.” (P.S. – read on to see how you can purchase this project as
a kit.)


Ali image 0

Of course, as owner and creative director for Jenni Bowlin
Studio
, much of my stash nowadays consists of my own products. In 2008 we came out with our first set
of 6x6 Calendar Cards which were based on a 1901 Calendar I had with the most
amazing graphics and interesting quotes. Considering we are now almost headed into 2010, many would consider a
2008 Calendar as past its prime! I
however decided that there was still some life left in these cards and came up
with this “Favorite Quotes” Swatch Book below.

Ali image 1
By slicing off the calendar part of each
card, I was left with 12 fabulous heavy cards ready for binding and
embellishment. Here’s how I did
it:


1. I
first cut the calendar area off of each JBS 2008 Calendar Card (hold
onto the calendar parts as they make GREAT scraps to punch flowers and other
shapes from. You could also cut
out the “month” words and reuse those)!!

2. Next
I printed out 12 favorite photos sized to 2.5 x 2.5 (the width of my now
trimmed cards) and adhered them along the top of each quote card. To cover the remaining blank area on
each card I used pages from the JBS Grey Memo Book (6), vintage
wallpaper (3) and trimmed JBS Gold Wallpaper Single Rub-On.

Special Note: To adhere the vintage wallpaper, use a
strong dry adhesive such as a Duck Brand Tape Runner covering the entire
area. You don’t want to use
a wet adhesive as this will activate the yucky adhesive still on the back of
the wallpaper! To add some color into the blank areas
of the rub-on cards, I first adhered the rub-on background and then sponged on
yellow ink lightly on top of it.

Ali image 2 

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3. To
create the cover card, I used one of the “discarded” calendar pieces and cut it
to the same size as the other cards. I then added a card from the Memo Book to the center and embellished
with a label sticker (included in the memo book), German Gold Scrap Trim and a
flower handmade using different circle/scalloped circle punches, topped
off with a reproduction millinery flower. I added the title using some JBS Gold Tiny Alpha Rub-Ons.

Ali image 4

4. To
bind, I used a large gold brad (available at any office supply store) in the
upper left corner, wrapped with tiny jewelry tags that were embellished with
sewn on vintage buttons.

5. Now
you are free to embellish each page as you see fit and add your favorite
quotes!  Here is a sample of
one of my finished pages. (Tip:
keep 3-dimensional embellishments at a minimum so the swatch book will open and
close with ease).

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Ali image 6


You may have some of these materials in your own stash (or enough to
improvise) but for those who don’t and are interested, we have added this
project as a limited edition kit available today at Mercantile - advertised first to Ali’s blog readers.


Each kit includes the following:
Set
of 12 6” x 6” 2008 JBS Calendar Cards

1 JBS Grey Memo Book

1 JBS Gold Tiny Alpha Rub-On

1
JBS Gold Damask Rub-On Single

1
approx. 12” piece of vintage wallpaper border

1
vintage reproduction yellow millinery flower

2
strips of German Gold Foil Trim

2
jewelry tags
Several
small vintage mother of pearl buttons


For more “Re-cycling”
adventures check out my blog at www.jennibowlin.blogspot.com.


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J&J6 Jenni Bowlin resides in Nashville, TN with her husband and
two young sons. She is the owner and the creative force behind Jenni Bowlin
Studio - a boutique papercrafting manufacturer with a “Vintage Fresh”
attitude.  Everything she creates
has a vintage edge and a general “re-invention” theme.  She is also the owner of Mercantile, a
web-based company offering monthly papercrafting, project and jewelry kits. A published designer, Jenni’s work has
landed on the pages of Creating Keepsakes, Autumn Leaves Publications, Family
Circle, Country Living and Mary Engelbreit Home Companion. Jenni is also an accomplished teacher,
offering classes at stores and conventions across the country and the web.


You can find Jenni’s work and products at www.jbsmercantile.com or visit her blog
at www.jennibowlin.blogspot.com.

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13 thoughts

  1. Helen says…
    08/25/2009

    Beautiful project!

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Carrie L says…
    08/25/2009

    So happy to see Jenni here! Two of my favorite designers in one place :-) Thanks for sharing. Jenni is always an inspiration for me to look at things from a different perspective. I need to go get my hands on one of these.

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Lana says…
    08/25/2009

    Very beautiful jenni!
    http://mz-cellaneous.blogspot.com

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Laura says…
    08/25/2009

    I love Jenni Bowlin! I was lucky enough to be her TA at a CKU and she was the sweetest and nicest lady. Plus she's super talented...thanks for sharing her project!

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Nancy L says…
    08/25/2009

    Love the project and love Jenni! Great Tuesday Tutorial!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Krisitna says…
    08/25/2009

    Love this! Thank you!

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Suz says…
    08/25/2009

    Great Tuesday Tutorial Jenni! Love your products & blog

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Jennifer says…
    08/25/2009

    cute. cute. i'm enjoying this series. thanks!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Lynda says…
    08/26/2009

    Super cute project! It's absolutely stunning. Just a note though... I think you've mis-stamped QUOTES? (I'd want someone to tell me if it were my project :))

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Efrat Kashat says…
    08/26/2009

    Thank you so much! My style is very different than Jenni's style so I'm happy to have this tutorial... And it's so great to see her here! Thank you so much, Ali & Jenni!
    BTW, why is the title of this post "*Three Things* : Jenni Bowlin : Favorite Quotes Swatch Book"? "Three Things"? :-)
    Again, Thank you!
    Efrat Kashat, Israel

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Rachel says…
    08/28/2009

    I love the quote idea, what a wonderful gift. Thanks so much for sharing Ali and Jenni! I'll be linking to this.

    Reply 0 Replies
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    09/22/2009

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  13. Marj says…
    02/24/2010

    Love your tutorials. Thanks for sharing. Happy to have found your site. Love it.

    Reply 0 Replies

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