Hi everyone, some weeks ago I found this cute little old book in a free book space in my village. It’s a linen hardcover book and the pages are bound, not glued (which is essential for creating your own art journal), it’s from around the year 1940. When I saw this book I immediately felt I needed to create an art journal from this book and I had just received the perfect design paper pad for the colour this book already had!
Step 1:
You can see what the book looks like before I started, it of course had the title of the book on the spine and it’s a greygreen colour. The pen is for size comparison.
I started with the spine: I applied a bit of Americana acrylic paint in “Antique White” (just because it’s a neutral colour and comes close to the colour of the cover) over the title of the book and let that dry. I knew I saved a few scraps of ricepaper from a previous project and that is what I used on the spine (it has green elements in it so it fitted wonderfully well: JMA-NA-RICE10). I adhered the rice paper using gel medium and a brush on the spine and let that dry, the pieces that are sticking out I will make to size after it had dried and will adhere later on using gel medium as well.
Step 2:
From the JMA-WYS-PP34 paper pad I picked the design that I felt matched the cover of the book nicely. I also looked for some blue ribbon in my stash to create the closure of the altered book journal (I know the book will get thicker after a couple of art journal projects and the ribbon will help to keep it nicely closed).
I cut the design paper to size and I adhered the ribbon onto the cover using Scor Tape (only gel medium would have worked as well maybe but the tape is for additional help).
Step 3:
I edged the design paper using Memento Teal Zeal ink and a foam applicator tool and I created a text on the cover using the Rub-On Transfers from the JMA Write Your Story collection (JMA-WYS-RUB02).
Step 4:
I adhered the design paper onto the cover of the book using gel medium and let that dry.
Using the STENCILJMA10 die set I die cut two mandala shapes from matching yellow paper and adhered them onto the journal, in the way you can see in the picture, using Ranger Matte Medium from the small bottle, folding the design inwards and adhering there in the same way!
Step 5:
To finish the cover I stamped the flower image from the JMA-WYS-STAMP210 stamp set a few times on the cover using black ink.
Step 6:
Because this book is old I know by experience that once it will be used in the way I will use it (as an art journal, which means I will add to the book and use the book more that it has been in the last decade) it is best to enhance the first/last page of the book (where the pages itself are adhere to the cover).
For this I picked another nice design paper from the paper pad I mentioned before and cut a panel that fits the inside of the book. Next I edged the panel using Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge in combination with a foam applicator tool. I also picked a piece of lace from my stash and cut that to size as well. I adhere the lace temporarily into the book using regular tape and than I adhered the design paper on top using gel medium and a brush.
On the last page in the back of the altered book I did the same as on the first page, to make the book stronger (but without the lace).
Step 7:
And the back of the book is created in the same way as the front of the book.
This book turned out just as I imaged it, totally love it!
How many art journals can one person have? Not too many I hope!!
And that is it for today’s altered book project! I wish you a creative day!
