Altered Book - Final Pages

And here are the last of the pages in this altered book.

This spread has a sewn vellum pocket tip-in. The background for both pages plastic wrap/watercolor technique. Paint with juicy watercolors and then lay a crumpled piece of plastic wrap over the wet paint. Remove plastic wrap to reveal a fun texture. If you let the paint dry before removing the wrap, the texture will be more defined. I also added gold foil.

The crown on this page is made with a flattened aluminum Coke can which I embossed with the Cuttlebug and an embossing folder. Then I added alcohol inks and some black paint to color it.

Metal embossed crown with magazine image

I may have shown this spread before. It's a "neighborhood" created out of various scrapbook papers with little windows and doors that open to reveal more vintage faces. The background is watery watercolors sprinkled with alcohol while wet. The water repels the alcohol making puddles that reveal the layer below.

One more three-page spread with a window in the center page with a suspended corrugated heart. The vintage sepia images are on a background of acrylic paints and gesso through a stencil.

Left page

Right page 

Center window page

This is the last spread in the book. I glued many pages together in the back to be able to cut a niche with a door (left page). The background is a napkin decoupaged over random ephemera and then a wash of walnut ink to age it.  The Bingo card is a collage I made years ago and decided to give it a home here.

Cut out niche with door revealing key and keyhole

I hope you enjoyed peeking inside my altered book. I am so addicted! I have already started prepping yet another book!

This post was scheduled to go live while I am in Chicago. We left yesterday to visit our youngest daughter there for a few days. I'm hoping for some relief from the brutal Texas heat.  I'll be back next week!

Altered Book - Part 2

Continuing on with more book spreads...

For the next page I followed along with LorriMarie Jenkins in this video using cutouts and a Tim Holtz "paper doll."

Cutouts/paper dolls

This page incorporates a zipper to make a pocket for a tag. The old cabinet card image of the man was printed on another image creating a layered look.

Zipper pocket

The background of this spread was done quite awhile ago. I layered two vintage black and white photos over pink tissue paper for the focal points. Then I found an old ratty pink flower which I cut in half and added to the page for texture.

This spread consists of three pages. The first and third pages are decoupaged with a napkin over a painty background. The middle page is actually a pocket for tags. Many scraps, a tag, postage stamps and even fabric bits were sewn to the pages before they were taped together. I found two very old tiny framed photos to add to each side.

Left page and one side of pocket

Other side of pocket and right page

This spread has an acetate window tip-in on the left page. The acetate was already printed with the text and flower. It covers a large image of a family and their house. The background has texture paste through a stencil and watercolors. 

Left page with acetate window tip-in

This spread has two torn pockets, hand-stitched together with black yarn. I added some tags I received in a swap. The microscope slide on the left page is one I received years ago in a swap and the heart on the right page is a sample I made while playing around with black UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), a stamp and gold ink.

Torn pockets 

Still more to come...

Documented Life Project - Weeks 35 and 36

Catching up on weeks 35 and 36 since I was in Albuquerque babysitting Drew and Grant most of this past week.

Week 35 - Aug. 29

August Theme - Faces, The Human Form and Characters

Art Challenge: Self Portrait

Journal Prompt: Mirror, Mirror

Yikes, this month is really challenging! I must admit I never, ever would have done something like this unless challenged! I took my inspiration from Rae Missigman again who altered a photograph with a sketch app and then traced and painted the drawing.

I imported a cropped photo into the app, Pencil Sketch, on my phone and then printed it on my computer.  I then traced this the good old-fashioned way by rubbing the back of the copy with a regular pencil and then tracing over the lines on the front side with a stylus. This transferred the graphite to my journal page so I didn't have to draw "from scratch!"

I used Neocolor II watercolor crayons for coloring the drawing. The more I retouched it, the worse it got, so decided to leave it as is! At least I did the challenge, it looks like a person and somewhat resembles me!

After all that work, I was "done," so just drew random lines in the background and filled in with oversized journaling about the challenge.

I am so ready to move on from August and drawing faces!

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September Theme - Journaling with Photos

Week 36 - Sept. 5
Art Challenge: Photo Transfer
Journaling Prompt: From Here to There

For this week, I used a photo from the Internet which was a Life Magazine cover from 1957. I highlights a model in a Christian Dior dress in from of the Louvre Metro stop in Paris.  Since I spent a year studying in Paris in college (1968-69) I decided to use this photo as my focal point of the spread about how much life has changed from that point to now.

I started with a background of collaged book text, random papers and napkin pieces, then created layers of white, blue and ivory - adding and removing many times until I was happy with the result.

For the photo transfer I used a new transfer paper (TAP - Transfer Artist Paper) where you print your image onto the paper and then iron onto your surface.  For whatever reason, the image did not transfer well - I suspect my paper was old as it was a sample from 2011 and the directions say it lasts about 3 years :(  

So, I moved on to Plan B, using the gel medium transfer method. First I repainted over the area where the partial transfer was, then spread gel medium generously but smoothly in the same area. I used an inkjet print and laid it face down on the journal page, burnishing it well.  Some directions say to dry well, preferably overnight, but I couldn't wait, so used my heat tool to dry it thoroughly.

I sprayed water on the back of the paper and let it sit for a minute to soak in. Then I gently rubbed until all the paper was removed, leaving a reasonably clear transfer. (Transfers are never perfect and that is their beauty. I love the sanded, grungy effect.)

I added more paint around the transfer to integrate it with the background and also used many Paris-themed stamps. I also stamped a Tim Holtz quote, "Life is what happens to us when we are busy making other plans," and cut it apart.

Now to work on this week's challenge and, hopefully, get caught up!