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...

Another Altered Book - Finished!

I've been working on this altered book for a few months, with lots of interruptions! Many of the backgrounds were done and I had to add focal points. And then the book was starting to fall apart so I dared not add any more spreads!

For the covers, I glued on wrinkled wrapping paper for texture, painted brown and then added the three Prima Rust Effect Pastes (Red Rust, Brown Rust and Brass) with a natural sponge. I sprayed with a clear coat to protect the texture and avoid it brushing off. The bookplate is very old - it may have been Basic Grey. I added the words cut from book text. I added a piece of patterned paper to dress up the spine and covered everything with a coat of Mod Podge to further seal it.

The first spread consists of three pages. The middle page has six small windows cut out and is covered with a large piece of mica which I attached with eyelets. The first and last page have six images each, cut from old Stampington magazines.

Left page, spread one

Middle page of first spread

Right page, spread one

Middle page with mica attached

The next spread is two distinct pages.  The images on the left page are placed under old slide mounts altered with alcohol inks. There is gold foiling on the page but it's hard to see.

Left page with foiling

The right page is a packing tape image transfer laid over a spray mist scrap (thank you Gloria!). The butterflies are old puffy stickers someone gave me that had warped - they look like they're flying off the page!

Right page image transfer

This third spread was done with aluminum duct tape over textures, burnished to bring out the patterns and then painted with a black paint wash.  The image on the right page was cut into thirds and I added glass microscope slides and copper tape to each section. I love this technique!

Left page with lots of textures

Right page with three microscope slides

I will be back tomorrow to share more spreads with you.

I'm Back! (Life update)

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted here. Life happens! I've been traveling almost constantly since mid-June.

On June 12 I flew to Vermont to see my mother and celebrate her 90th birthday. She had a big party for her friends for which I helped a little (made 30 invitations). Luckily it was catered and there was very little to do except to enjoy the day.  The week after that my family all came in to celebrate the next weekend with a family party. Even my son from Hong Kong was able to come as he was in the States on business. My youngest brother who lives with my mom and his two youngest kids with their significant others were also there. And my 92-year old aunt arranged to come as well. It was the first time in a very long time that our entire family was together and my mom also met Grant (3 years old) for the first time.

90 years young

great-grand boys ready to help blow out the candles

We left there on Sunday the 24th. As usual during the busy summer season, we ran into problems non-revving. We ended up stuck in Tampa due to thunderstorms but managed to get the last two seats on the last flight to Austin. We spent the night there with our daughter's family and then were able to return home Monday afternoon.

Two days later our son arrived for a few days of business meetings. On Saturday we took him to the airport and left the same day for Albuquerque. Our son-in-law's father died unexpectedly Memorial Day weekend and the memorial was Sunday the 1st. We returned home Sunday night only to return to Abq on the 4th to babysit the 5th and 6th (the three-year old's daycare closed for the holiday). Friday night we flew home.

A week later (last weekend) we again went to Albuquerque for Drew's delayed birthday party. He is now 6 years old! My other daughter's family came from Austin so the four grand boys were together again.  We returned Sunday night and I am more than ready to stay at home for awhile though we do have one more trip scheduled to Chicago at the end of the month to see our youngest daughter.

Happy birthday Drew!

So, my apologies for not posting - I have been home so little I have not even done much creating! I'm itching to get back into my art room though so should have some projects to share soon.