Altered Book: Women of Substance - Fifth Entry

Hello everyone.

Today, I'm sharing my fifth entry into my altered book.

I was drawn to the dusty greens in this piece and still had some old

Pink Paislee Butterfly collection papers to work some fussy cutting into

this entry. 

This is Grandma Ruth circa 1929.

I adore how the Prima Flourish stencil work looks so lacy here.

The background was created using gesso, and several layers of stamping 

and more gesso in between the stamping layers, and finally

finished off with the Prima stencil and light molding paste.

 

I'm pleased to see some fellow scrapping/artist have

initiated their altered books too.
Check Natalie and Astrid's altered books:
I adore how Natalie used the same colors throughout her book creating some lovely harmony and continuity. And, Astrid's background works are always so hauntingly dreamy.

Let me know if you've started your altered book so that I may drop by for a visit.
You may view other pages of the altered book by clicking on the Label "Women of Substance."
 

Altered Book: Women of Substance - Fourth Entry

I'm making some progress in filling up the pages in my altered book. 

I'm keeping with the vintage look throughout the book and am maintaining some continuity by using the Prima flourish stencil.  Thank goodness the stencil has so many interesting elements to work with.

I used some glossy gel medium and some colored mist to create my own dimensional paint on the stencil.

Here's a close up of a flower that was salvaged from a mixed media project gone wrong.  Its worked out well for this page.  The colors of plum don't show up too well on these pictures, but the color is richly saturated on the original pages.

Here's what the two pages side by side look like.

A view of the journal page:

Thanks for stopping by to check on the progress and keep your fingers crossed for me that I will be able to create four more pages to complete this book.

Altered Book: Woman of Substance - Third Entry

Hello my artsy friends.

I’m here today to share my progress with you on my Women of Substance altered book project.  Here’s the third entry inspired by the colors of Prima’s Epiphany paper collection. At the time I created these pages, the Prima papers were not yet available to the public. I lost patience in waiting for them to be released and decided to create my own take on the colors and design. I’m enjoying how the journaling spaces on the pages are turning out just by creating an illusion of space and using some stamps and chipboard pieces which add interest and texture.  Yea for chipboard!    Ancestry.com is helping me fill in some gaps in my family history and I will be using that information in the journaling spaces.  I still ache to apply voluminous petal flowers, and other objects with dimension, and I struggle with creating “flatty” pages, but my goal is to get as many photos of this subject matter in this particular book.  It does however make me use my old punches and dies more.  I only wish I started working on altered books sooner, because not only does it allow me to incorporate mixed media, photos, and journaling, but I don’t have to worry about finding space to store a book.  I see more altered books in my future.  

Below you can see the many layers of gesso, mist and stamping.

I'm really enjoying creating my journal spaces with stamps, and chipboard.

The cross chipboard framing the photo and the bird cage are from Blue Fern Studios.

So, how are you coming along on your altered book?  Let me know where I can find you to see what you've been doing on your book.

p.s. A 6x6 Prima Epiphany paper collection book is in route to me as I compose this message.  I can’t wait to use the collection on another page!

Somerset Memories

Have you heard of that old adage, "If you don't send your ship out, it won't come in?"

 

Well, my ship came in!  Yea!!!!

 

I sent in the art journal page below I created while on the Blue Fern Studios Design Team to Stampington Publications, and that journal page got published in the October Somerset Memories Magazine.  The magazine is one of the crème de la crème of scrapbooking magazines, and over the years, I spent a lot of time viewing all the pages and art work from some of our well known scrapbooking artists. It's always so inspiring and warms your heart when you view art and read an article from your mentors.  This months magazine cover features the very well known talent of Louise Nelson.  I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy the works of Louise, Heather Jacobs, Tina Walker, Jasmine Shea, and so many others....

One of the eight Artists' Papers in the magazine was created by Meghan Horan using some of the art elements from my art journal page below.

 

 

Somerset Memories Magazine (October)...psss, my page is featured on page 79. :) 



 

 

 

I'm currently working on page three of the altered book I started last month and hope to be sharing with you the results soon.

 

Thank you for viewing and happy creating to you.

Altered Book - Second Vintage Entry

 

 

Here's the second entry in my new altered book.

The chapter on the page explains how I feel about this new endeavor:

The Magnificent Adventure

and it truly is.

It's very addictive and satisfies my desires of painting, beading, creating and all things vintage. 

One of the challenges in this project is trying to preserve the photographs, and I think I've been able to accomplish that by creating a journal box on the opposite side of the page of the photo.  I've left the journal box empty for now and will come back at a later time to fill it in. The box was shaded with pan pastels so that I can control where the media is placed. 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite element is the vintage fountain pen created with a Tim Holtz nib, cardstock, paper lace, gold thread and some Prima rhinestones.  The nib looks like porcelain by applying embossing ink, and peal embossing powder than set it with a heat gun.

 

 

 

Chipboard adds another element and interest too on these pages. The leafy branch was torn in various pieces and used throughout the two pages.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, and if you've started your altered book, or have finished one, let me know where I can find you.  Thank you.

 



Altered Book

Recently, I was inspired by a fellow scrapping muse to work on my first altered book entry  for the book I had prepped several months ago and put away until I was inspired to work on it. When my muse said she was going “vintage book” shopping at some local thrift stores for an art journal book well that sounded like a fun trip to me. And, I was instantly reminded of the time I spent painstakingly removing pages from my art journal book with a ruler, and an exacto knife.   

Here’s Josie, my first entry in an altered book.

 

Some tips:

When you tear the pages out leaving a small lip of paper inside the book, glue the lip of paper down to your working page to add some stability to the book and prevent the pages from falling out of the book.

A light application of gesso was applied and I tried not to cover up too much of the title of the chapter, “Glorious Queens and Slavegirls.”

 

After applying the colored mist to the stencil/molding paste application, I applied a layer of clear gesso over some areas so that the second coating of the light colored mist wouldn’t be repelled too much and add more depth.  Clear gesso will absorb light mist colors beautifully and not repel them like white gesso does. Soft and light stamping was applied in the background using the Grey StazOn ink pad. I have left some space for journaling on this page.

 

I like the idea of adding charms hanging from ribbons on various pages so that they dangle from the bottom of the book.  This Josie charm was made with the EZ Shape Studio tool, and an EZ Shape Studio metal charm.  An application of gesso and bronze ink was applied to age the charm. I cut out some Prima rhinestones (the same ones used on the Blue Fern Studio flourish chipboard) and affixed them to the top of the frame. Inside the frame, a small piece of lace was placed on top of the Riddersholm paper, and the resin piece was placed on top of the charm.  

I made some mistakes in the process and hope to not repeat them again on the next page of the book which has already begun. The cover of the book will be done last because during the process I found I was handling the book quite a lot and I was applying pressure to the spine when working the pages. 

Not much is known about Josie as a person, and in looking at this photograph I have many questions to ask her: Did she marry as a trade, or was she in love with the man she married; what were her politics; did she believe or participate in the women’s suffrage movement; did she, like so many others during the Gilded Age, enjoy bicycling as a popular activity; what was a typical day for her like during that time in history; did she have her dresses made like so many other women in their early 20’s before stores like Selfridges were created.  It boggles my mind how she was able to live her life without our modern day conveniences, and for that I am truly grateful she came before I did.

I hope my fellow scrapping muse and I have inspired you to shop for a vintage book and start creating your first altered book. I found I really enjoyed working on smaller pages, and of course these books are much easier to store than a 12 x 12 layout.  For those of you that have already produced altered books, please let me know where I can come view your work for more inspiration and ideas to fill up the remaining pages of mine. 

Thank you for visiting.

Some products used:

You can purchase Blue Fern Studios chipboard here.

 

Prima Rhinestones use on the chipboard flourish and small charm.

 

 

Tutorial, and Lilac Fog...only look if you love the color of lilac, lavender, and purple.

 

 

As promised earlier, here's the finished layout featuring those wonderfully detailed lantern and key chipboard pieces designed by Blue Fern Studios. 

 

 I'm fond of Barbara Bixby jewelry and while at a shop admiring some of her very expensive and exquisite pieces, it crossed my mind that I might be able to make chipboard look like a piece of her jewelry, and at a fraction of the cost. Wishful thinking, right?  But, I wasn't going to let a little doubt stop me from trying.

 

The Lilac Fog in the background was created using Blue Fern Studios Quatrefoil Panel as a stencil, some light molding paste, mists, stamp, and a watercolor pencil.  A very easy process with dramatic results in any color of your choice.  

 

Here's how you can make your chipboard look like a pieces of jewelry:

Here's a picture of some of Barbara Bixby's work.

Lots of Orange

It's not a color I design with or have in my wardrobe, but lately I've been drawn to the color of orange.  Leslie's Dream paper from Blue Fern Studios Ombre Dream Collection called out my name when I opened the paper package, and I answered the call by creating this layout with the Blue Fern Studios August Sketch.  Interestingly, I found lots of little bits of embellies, buttons, tags, washi tape, and ribbon in this color in my treasure boxes, and those things finally found a home on this layout. 

Close up of the layering stem chipboard by Blue Fern Studios.  I loved this little lacy piece, and wished there was a stamp in this exact design.  So, I did the next best thing and applied some bronze metallic paint on the reverse side of the chipboard and stamped it around my page.  Later, when I affixed the chippie with some glue, I wished I had though to soak the piece in water, split it, and use it for a stamp on future pieces.  Oh well....I know where to get another one.

Here's Michele Singh's August Sketch, designed exclusively for Blue Fern Studios.  I hope you can design with it too.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...see you next time. 

Sneak Peek ....

 

Hello everyone, today I'm sharing a little sneak peek of a project I have been working on for awhile but don't seem to get the time to finish it off.  I've set a deadline to finish it and will share the complete layout with you then.  Until the reveal, I hope you enjoy the adornment used on these precious Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces, these are what make the whole layout in my opinion, so maybe you don't have to come back and see the finished piece after all. LOL.  Both the Lantern and the Key are exquisitely designed by Michele Singh for Blue Fern Studios, she does have an eye for details and keeps things fresh for us, and pays mindful attention as to how we can treat them.  In this case, there was room for me to bling it up with pearls, and rhinestones and still be able to add some texture too.  

 

 

When I post the final project, I'll provide some instructions on how you can add more texture to your chipboard embellishments.

You can purchase the Lantern, Key chipboard and some wonderful other chipboard designs here.

Tags featuring Blue Fern Studios Chipboard

Hello everyone, today I'm sharing my design team projects for July.  This lovely little shabby chic tag features the Blue Fern Studios Roman Clock.  You get three different sized clocks in one package.  Here is the smallest of the three clocks dressed up in molding paste to make it look a little withered and some mist applied too.  The background of the tag itself was created using white cardstock, printed book papers, gesso, textured paste and some mist made out of tea bags.  I have enough of the back ground paper to create another project, and I love the periwinkle color so much, that I want to use it again. The ribbons are made of tule, rayon seam ribbon, and fiber with some pearl beads woven in a few of the pieces.

Here is a close up of some of the ribbon work and my newly purchased Memory Box Stencil (quarterfoil panel) work on the very top of the tag.

The gears/widgets are metal charms treated with some shimmery metallic paste.  Some of the same paste was applied on top of the molding paste treatment on the Roman Clock. The hands on the Blue Fern Studios clock come in the chipboard package and are very ornately crafted.

Here's a tag made out of the Juliana Dream paper from the Blue Fern Studios Ombre Dream Collection.  Such lovely soft colors are in this paper.  Here the Blue Fern Studios Layering Stem was treated with a texture paste, misted and lightly washed with a watercolor pencil.  The rayon ribbon was laid down with beads woven into the ribbon to hold the ribbon down on the tag and add more texture and interest...such a delicate treatment for the ribbon. I've used it before and will use it every chance I get, because it adds so much elegance and just another wonderful detail that we so enjoy.

Thank you for visiting, and I hope I have inspired you to use your Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces.  Click here to find out where you can purchase Blue Fern Studios chipboard.