My Little Helper ..... and another Grunge page done!

I recently joined a round robin swap run by Ali Brandist, to create an altered book.  It's the first real book that I've actually had a go at altering ..... we each had to choose an old book, not too big, and it had to be stitch-bound rather than glued.  The first task was to pull out a lot of the pages (leaving about 30 double pages or so), to give enough room for adding embellishments later on.  We then had instructions for completing the first two pages in our own book, along with giving it a title/theme.  After a bit of pondering, mine is going to be "Flights of Imagination", which I hope will give everyone plenty of scope for creating their own style and ideas in my book.

Anyway, to begin with, I had to cover up some parts of the text with torn post-it notes, collage over the rest of the pages with scraps of different textured papers, then gesso over that.  I then painted over the top of the gesso, once it had dried, using some lush coloured Paint Dabbers - Pink Sherbet, Raspberry, Wild Plum, Citrus and Pool - followed by a wash of Twinkling H2O's - I absolutely adore the finished effect and as you can see, my little helper was on hand to help with the painting!

I blended some of the acrylic paints together using a baby wipe and as you can see it ended up very colourful indeed - once dried, it can be turned into a background for an ATC or card (I'm all for recycling where I can and not wasting anything that might come in useful - one day)!

The next step was to add a couple of torn strips of paper, with inked edges, one on each page, then choose two or three stamps and stamp them randomly all over.  (I chose a dragonfly, the word "imagine" and a swirly stamp).

Finally, I added an image to each page, plus a quote, all relating to the title I chose for my book (this quote is apparently one of Jane Austen's but it just seemed to fit perfectly for the theme of my book).  A few embellishments .... and my pages are complete, just waiting to be posted out to the next person in the swap next week.  We will receive more instructions from Ali after that about altering the pages in the next book we receive.

I definitely had a lot of fun making these pages - I wasn't worried about everything being perfect; I wanted everything to look a little messy and imperfect - a good lesson for me as I have a tendency to be 'picky' and want everything 'a particular way' ... so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Then today, I got on a roll and made another Grunge page for my chunky book swap - this one is "It's Only Words" - I spritzed Mustard Seed, Broken China and Denim distress inks onto my craft sheet, then rubbed the mountboard page into the ink, front and back, then heatset it.  I stamped a Tim Holtz alphabet stamp all over, using Versamark, then embossed with an aqua embossing powder.  I also coloured some Stampbord with acrylic inks, then stamped over with the PaperArtsy 'writing hand' stamp and edged with Krylon gold pen.  I glued this over an image of a man, which I had peeled from a rather torn and tatty carte de vue that I had.  I glued a strip of text from an old book to some paper, painted it lightly with acrylic paints, gessoed, stamped, tore off bits, added more stamps, and stuck it along one side of the page.  I rubbed in some Frayed Burlap distress ink around the edges, along with a border of gold Krylon ink.  Other embellishments included pen nibs, a German scrap nib, a Rangers Muse Token and tag.  (I may add a little something more yet before it's finally finished, not sure yet).  But I'm happy to have more or less completed another page.

Now I was going to have another go with the Meltpot, but when I looked in my box of embossing powders I realised that I only had a very small amount of Clear UTEE left, not enough to have a proper go with (honest ..... it's not an excuse so I don't have to use the Meltpot! ... LOL!).  However, I am going to the craft show at Aintree Liverpool on Saturday, so I shall keep an eye out in case there's any on sale there - if not, I'll have to check out the local craft shops next week.  (I really do want to finish my mirror frame)!

Dream Journals & an ATC

I finally finished a couple of pages for one of the Journals of Dreams in the round robin I'm involved in.  This journal is Tracy's from the US, rather a large book so quite a different scale for me to be working on, and it's now on its way to Australia for the next leg of its journey.  (No more snow, we've had torrential rain this morning and that cleared away any remaining ice - not particularly pleasant to be out in but at least I can walk around without fear of falling over)!  I used a similar format for these pages that I'd already tried out in a board book "challenge" in another group, we had to create sample pages using step-by-step instructions for a variety of techniques - turned out to be fun and a good way to get you thinking about alternative ways of working. 

For the "dream" pages I first gessoed over them, then added blue acrylic paints, torn paper, black gesso lines (didn't have any black acrylic to hand), images from magazines, stamped a swirly image over the pages using silver acrylic paint, found a relevant quote about dreams off the Internet, cut out and added across the pages, along with a torn strip of scrapbooking paper.  The pages were also "sponged" with watered down black gesso and the edges distressed with TH "black soot" distress ink.  I added lots of stars over the pages using a white gel pen, as well as a plastic star shape which I'd found in some packaging over Christmas, painted with silver acrylic paint and with "dream" and dots added using dimensional blue paint.  I hope Tracy likes these additions to her journal when she finally receives it back.

I also got round to making some ATCs yesterday, some were for a regular monthly partner swap in an internet group, but this one will go into my "small" stash of ATCs for swapping.  I used the remains of some background card I'd made using a mix of bright inks, to which I added a Paperartsy vintage stamped image in black Archive ink - I rather like the contrast of vintage with bright rather than always sticking to more muted tones.  I already had the stamped phrase as an offcut, sitting on my desk, and I just thought it expressed exactly what might be running through the young lady's head - the feather and glitter added to the fun element of the card.  Hope you like it!

Paraphernalia

As promised, here are photos of all the pages I created for my "Paraphernalia" board book.  It was great fun making this, especially having a different title to work on for each page, and I really got engrossed in working on it.  Each page in the board book I chose to use had a curved top to it (like a handle) which was ideal because I could stamp the title on each one, as you can see from the pics. 

If you've never thought of altering a child's board book before, then I'd encourage you to have a go - you can pick them up cheaply in all sorts of places (charity shops, car boots, discount book stores, pound shops).  Start off by preparing the board book either the hard way (sanding the surface of each page to form a 'key') or the easy way (if you're very lucky, you can peel away the top thin layer of the page leaving the white inner card core).  Once you've done this, paint a layer of gesso over every page, front and back.  When this has dried, you're up and running ...... you can throw more or less anything at these books, paints, inks, papers, stamping, collage, embellishing ...... just anything you fancy trying out really.

This is the front and back covers.  I used acrylic paints, then stamped a pattern in purple and pink over the pages, and buffed the edges with gold metallic rub-on.  The swirly paper on the front cover was created using a child's SpinArt toy (great fun!) and the word "Paraphernalia" was added using an assortment of alphabet stickers (you don't have to stick to all the same font style for something like this - we've probably all got sets of alphabet stickers where there aren't enough vowels left or only one "T" or something so we can't make up a word with what's left - then using them in this way still works and adds a touch of quirkiness).  I added my details on a torn strip of decorative paper to the back of the book along with a dictionary definition of "paraphernalia", then finished off by threading some fancy fibres and a couple of beads down the length of the spine.

This is my "Time" page (acrylic paint, stamping, torn dictionary page, cut out words, a Crafty Individuals image and metal embellishment knotted with gold elastic thread).

"My Childhood" Page (decorative paper, inked edges, stamped words, a photo of Lindsay and I, handwriting, paper flowers with brad centres and a flower ribbon 'daisy' border).

This is the "Vintage Transport" Page (a collage of torn vintage transport papers and figures designed by Lindsay, a faux stamp and a rubber stamped penny farthing covered with Glossy Accents).

My "Fly Me to the Moon" Page (inked background, stamped and coloured images, acetate tree image, child and butterfly wings from Crafty Individuals, butterfly silhouette shapes and self-sticking ribbon border).

The "Gone Fishing" (for dreams) Page (painted background, fairy and fish paper images with Glossy Accents, pond weed cut from angelina fibres overlaid with alcohol inked acrylic, rubber stamped dragonfly and words).

I chose Summer for my "Seasons" Page (paper with ink distressed edges, a pocket containing a tag with fibres and charms, rub-on word, stamped sun, Crafty Individual image and metal embellishment).

I used all sorts of things on this "French at Heart" Page (stamped tissue paper laid over decorative papers and stamping, a stamped and embossed frame with a Parisian-themed image inside, covered with beads, Paris stickers, a stamped heart shape with feathers and a French coin).

Here is the "Lighthouses" Page (I stamped seashells onto the inked background, the sand was torn strips of more inked background paper, with various images, words and postage stamp added).

Well, this was my "Zetti" Page - or my attempt at it anyway (acrylic paints blended for the background, zetti-type stamped image which I altered with a black pen, a stamped cat image tinted with white pen, then various swirls, dots and words added with Marvy Le Plume pens).

For my "Very Extraordinary Queen" Page I just had to use this image I found of Queen Elizabeth I, as I've always believed her to be one of our greatest monarchs.  I used acrylic paints for the background then handwrote various quotes and facts all around her face to fill the page.  I used some self-adhesive crystals and pearls to highlight her ruff and 'coronet'.

This is the "Gothic Architecture" Page (again, the background was done with acrylic paints, then collaged over with architectural imagery from an old sepulchral book that we have, an acetate 'gargoyle' image and a distressed piece of text about gothic architecture, plus some stamping in sepia ink).

This is the final "Angel Shrine" Page.  I had an extra page in the board book so I had the idea of cutting out the shrine shape in one page, then gluing it down over the angel image on the inside back page.  I stamped and embossed the shrine onto matboard, over a painted/torn paper background.  The heart if a Tim Holtz grungeboard one which I inked up, then added a layer of Beadazzles (microbeads) across the shrine and heart with Glossy Accents.  The "angel" quote was stamped onto the page.

Before I sign off for the night, thanks for the comments already received and I've added your names in for the Christmas draw - but sorry, folks, I'm afraid you'll have to make do with the bead kits and ATC - Mia is definitely NOT part of the deal!  *LOL*

More Vintage Ladies and a Witchy ATC Swap

Okay, so it's the Autumn Equinox (night and day are equal length - and can you believe we're actually into autumn already)?  And then it'll be Halloween at the end of October - not so big an occasion here in the UK as it is in the US - but it just gave me the idea that it might be fun to take one of these vintage ladies and turn her into a witch - any kind of witch that takes your fancy - nice and friendly, funny, creepy, scarey, weird, anything goes!  I've added a bit of info about the swap in the sidebar, along with a Witchy ATC that I created today, using one of the images I posted last week - the background was made using one of those old Spin Art toys, pouring different acrylic paints onto card whilst it's spinning - a different effect every time and so much fun!  (This card will be going into the swap too).  If you want to have a go at this, email me to let me know you're interested - the deadline will be 23rd October.

So - I thought I would add some more vintage ladies for you - once you have downloaded them to your computer (double click to enlarge pic, right click to save image as jpeg), you can resize them to fit an atc-sized card.  I hope I can entice a few of you to have a go at creating a witchy lady, I'd love to see what you all can do!

Last week I said that I was joining in a project to create zetti pages and the first thing we all had to do was cover our pages, front and back, with a colour wash - using one or more colours.  So I had a session creating very colourful backgrounds onto some heavy watercolour paper.  For some I used acrylic paints and others, "Sticky Fingers" acrylic inks - they all turned out pretty bright and colourful (which was my aim), as you can see.

The backs of the pages were done in different colours to the front, but the size was bigger than I needed for the project, so I had to cut them all down with my guillotine - which left me with lots of colourful strips, including strips where the pages were pulled off the binding in the watercolour pad.

So I then thought I'd like to make some atcs using some of these jewel-coloured offcuts and also try to make use of the torn binder strips too, just to see how effective they could be and not waste anything.  These are the three atcs I came up with - I've used some vintage-style rubber stamps on a couple of them, along with extra embellishments - brads, adhesive gems, colourful plastic discs, stamped hearts with gold cord and dictionary words.  For the mermaid card I added some alcohol inked clear acrylic, beading, angelina fibres and little shells - all scraps and oddments from my stash.  I'm quite happy with the way they all turned out and it just goes to show what you can make with a few offcuts and bits and bobs lying around.

Now that I've finished my zetti background pages, the next thing we have to do is add some images and paper cutout shapes to each page - it's all new to me so I'm intrigued to see how my pages eventually turn out, but it's certainly fun to have a go at trying out a new style of art or technique.  I'll let you know how I get on!