altered book for tags

Greetings!

Today I am sharing the altered book project I taught 

at the Cozy Crop House Mixed Media Weekend.

We altered an old Readers Digest Condensed book to hold 4x6 photo sleeves which are perfect for holding #8 sized technique tags!

We started by deconstructing the book then coating the outside with Golden Gesso. We played with stamping into the wet gesso to add texture. While it's nearly impossible to catch this with the camera, here I've tried to show you. It is a nice subtle effect. (click on photo to enlarge)

After our gesso was dry we applied Distress Paint in "mowed lawn", "broken china", and "mustard seed" using a makeup sponge. We proceeded to layer various background stamps and more paint using bubble wrap and other household applicators. On the front a mask made with a Spellbinders die was used to mask off the center section while Staz-on gray ink was rubbed against the edges to form the frame. Further ink was applied through punchenella to fade out to the edges. 

The bird is cut from chipboard with a Spellbinders die, inked with a nondescript script stamp in brown then coated with Inkssentials Crackle Accents. The word "create" is chipboard I ordered from Want2scrap and is painted with Silks Acrylic Glaze in Sky Blue. The fern is Distress Stain in "peeled paint" mixed with Golden Extra Heavy Gel and applied through the "3 flourishes" stencil by Wendy Vecchi.

On the inside we used a sheet of washi paper by We R Memory Keepers applied with Mod Podge over and under to strengthen the spine. I left the inside covers of my book blank but the girls were having so much fun with the stamps and paints that they proceeded to decorate the inside too!

After punching holes in the back cover we installed album posts to hold the pages. Initially I was going to use rings to hold the pages and I had punched holes in the front of mine as well. Since I decided not to use this method I just put ribbon in the holes of my book. The books the students made do not have the holes in the front.

Now I have a pretty place to keep my technique tags I make and will be able to quickly reference them.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

I'll be sharing the third project I taught in a few days - hope you'll stop back!