NOTE 036 - My Top 3 Vintage Journaling Must Haves

 

Today I thought I would share my top 3 vintage journaling must haves!

I made a post about this on my ig @mamucatlife a good time ago but I thought I would share it here as well. It's about time I finally posted on here.

And I only had so much room to write on the post so I wanted to go more in depth

here on the blog!

 

 

1. Stamps & Inks 

My ABSOLUTE must have!! This is my most used item in my stationery

collection. And that's not just for vintage spreads!

You can't really go wrong with them. There is so many cute designs and so many

different colors and kinds of ink to pick from! It is a bit of an investment but you can

use the stamps over and over again. If you run out of ink, just buy more or get refills!

 

I really love layering with stamps! Because you have the ability to use different colors,

it can help give your spreads (or mails) some depth. They are also so perfect for

getting that aged or vintage look you want. Just in that ^^^ photo alone for the little

snippet of that spread, I used 8 different stamps! (I counted the letters as a set.)

Stamps are also great for reducing bulk in your journals and mails! I love using them to

make wrapping paper and even my own little ephemera pieces. I highly recommend

getting a few!

Where do I get my stamps? Most of my stamps are pre-loved! So thrift stores and buying

them used online is a great place to find stamps at a reasonable price. Another option that

many journalers love is Aliexpress. Quality can vary for them but I have bought a few

designs for unbeatable prices that I love! (I mean 99 cents?!) You can also try out cling stamps

with acrylic blocks. I get mixed results with them. I recommend pigment ink for those

kind of stamps. Dye ink tends to come out blurry unless you sit the paper on top. But that's

hard to do and the results aren't always great. Another note on cling stamps, be careful of

how you store them because they can melt 😳 I've had many do that because I didn't know at

first. And for inks, I recommend looking for barely used bundles of stamp inks. Most of

mine were second hand. Some take the plunge and invest big time in stamping and inks, but

they don't always stick with it so they sell their collection after barely touching it. Another

place is checking out craft stores clearance sales and items! I have snatched a few good

ink pads on sale from Hobby Lobby hehe I love a good discount!

My favorite inks:

Tim Holtz Distressed Inks in both dye and chalk style

Tsukineko VersaColor, VersaMagic, & VersaFine Inks 

Ranger Inks

 

Do you have any favorite stamps or inks? What's your favorite way to use them?

2. Papers

A must have!! Paper is the foundation for any paper crafts. (wow lol)

But I'm not talking about your journal or notebook paper, but there is so many different

kinds and designs. 

My number one: vintage book paper.

The simplicity, the beauty, the availability. All of it! Vintage books have that naturally

aged look. But it's such a neutral color that goes well with every vintage journal spread!

Those pages with simple letters add to the vintage feel while also making for great backgrounds.

The availability of vintage books with just text is what also makes them so great.

Many vintage books get tossed as useless and out of date, but we have the opportunity to

give those pages new life. You can get books to use from thrift stores. But for most of mine,

I got them for free! Some small book shops and thrift stores have free item bins. And this

is usually where a lot of vintage books end up. Talking to friends and family is also a good

way to get old books!

But there is some vintage books (especially the botanical ones) have gorgeous illustrations

that I LOVE!! And sometimes those are the ones that also get thrown away 😢

And don't leave out all the other papers! Kraft paper, scrapbook papers, random packaging,

and I could go on!

For me, paper is not only great for backgrounds, but giving your page depth and texture.

And if you don't have have vintage books and papers readily available to you,

have you tried tea or coffee dying? It's really fun to dye printables with tea or coffee!

Also every page is so unique since every page dyes differently!

3. Washi Tape

This one is totally not necessary, but it's one thing I love!

I use washi tape a LOT haha. With vintage pages, you don't have to have stickers.

You can use ephemera, photos, elements you cut from books or magazines, or even pressed

flowers. But washi tape brings it all together for me. It adds that bit of extra something to the page!

And washi tape lasts longer than stickers! There is so many designs available for such great prices!

(hello Aliexpress hehe) I recommend having a fair share of washi tapes with simples designs.

You will get the most use out of anything with simple designs. Just look at the example photos!

But a tip! Those washi tape designs that have fancy designs are better than buying the stickers!

You can get much more uses out of a roll of tape as opposed to stickers. So if there is a design in

stickers that I want, I try to look for a washi tape in that design. Although this does not just apply

to washi tape now! Now there is so many new options! Die-cut tapes, PET tapes, to name a couple.

My new fave is PET tapes! I love the clear background for layering! And it also helps the tape to take

a bit of the color of the background.

And that is my top 3 vintage journaling must haves! What is yours?

Let me know in the comments!! I would love to hear!

 A note: I know now that Aliexpress sells a lot of stolen designs. But for vintage most of the designs are not stolen. Due to the age of the designs, they are in the public domain. It just depends, but most of the vintage designs I have seen on there are safe! So you don’t have to worry! But with cute stuff, unless it’s simple stripes, polka dots, colors, or the like (because no one can own a color or a simple design like that) do some research. A lot of deco sticker designs on there now are stolen.