Best bullet journal tip ever!

    Today's post is a departure from my usual art quilting, but it was too cool not to share! I've been trying to do some fun things this week as it's not only the week between Christmas and New Year's, but we've been having epic snowstorms back to back preventing us from leaving the house! It's also the time of year when many of us regroup and plan for the next year. So, I've been doing some paper crafting and also working on a planner for this year. (I definitely let my schedule get out of control multiple times this year, hoping to reel it in for 2022...) 
     I'm not a committed bullet journal person, but I have been having fun playing around with it. But this trick has lots of other uses anyway! I really wanted something temporary to mark pages, but not a ribbon or a bookmark. I decided to try magnetic tabs, and I think they will be great. I have already learned a few things, so I will share them here, as well as several paper cards I made this week while watching it snow! (and snow.... and snow... 😂)
     These are really easy, but I did learn a few things... First, fold your paper before cutting it to size. I wanted mine to end up 1 1/2" wide and about 1 1/8" tall, but that's up to you. I already had these small scraps of paper, but they were still big enough to make two at a time. So I folded them, then trimmed to 1 1/8" from the fold with the rotary cutter. I cut strips of adhesive magnets about 3/8" wide, but again, measurements are flexible. I learned that while my magnets were nice and thin, ( I have some thicker/stronger ones too, but thin is nice for this), they didn't always stick very well. So I made sure my magnet strips were going to stick together before attaching them to my paper. Not sure why some didn't, and it did seem to matter a bit which way I had them turned, so try both directions. Then, it's actually easier to attach them to the paper if they are stuck together anyway. 

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     I also decided to add a thin strip of double sided tape in the crease. This gave it some stability, but also keeps them from sliding too far in, I wanted the tabs to stick out. I left the magnets and tape a bit long, then trimmed after they were attached. I then was able to get two 1 1/2" tabs from each of these. 
     I had already added washi tape along the edges of my pages, which helps the tabs stay on a little better also. Just put it on the edge of your page, using only half the width of the tape, fold it over to the back, then trim the corners to match the paper, another favorite tip! (which I saw online somewhere...) For me, that marks the sections, and the tab will mark the exact page I'm on.
     If you carry your journal around or it gets jostled a lot, this might not work for you, but mine just sits on my desk so it's fine. You could experiment with stronger magnets, or put them all the way across instead of just on the edges. Lots of ways to be creative with these, but I am going to love being able to move them around! They would also make good bookmarks!

     I hope you will try it, and if you are new here, I hope you will look around at our art quilty patterns, kits, and tutorials 😃 Two of our designs were featured in today's Keepsake Quilting email, and are in the current catalog. But of course available here too!
     Here are a few paper cards I made this week (while sorting paper!) and some of our epic 35+ inches of snow! That big lump is our grill 😂
​Blessings for the new year,
Beret