An Altered Book for Paper Storage

Knowing how far to go....

That's a lesson I am still learning. How much is too much, and how little is too little? I tend to have a minimalist approach to certain kinds of design. I'm not sure how that all started. I just know that I like to have places in my work where my eye can rest for a little and relax. Anything too ultra "busy" really bugs me.

That being said, I do not think that I had gone far enough on this fun little storage project before I got out a camera for its pose.

But what is it? Well, it now houses my smallish collection of 12" by 12" sheets of colorful, patterned papers. What it was before was a slightly wonky older book that I never had any use for. It was a hard cover book. I like to alter books, but I'd never tried anything like this before.

Ingredients List:
Vintage hard cover book with fairly thick spine; torn and distressed old maps and technical engraving illustrations from the same book; Plush Possum Studio antique ephemera; a variety of distress inks, including Tim Holz and other brands; my favorite Mod Podge; Liquitex Matte Medium; FW Sepia liquid acrylic ink; embossing powder in clear, silver, black and gold colors; home made and pre-packaged stamps; die cut letters and shapes; 1/4" thick foam core board (a remnant, destined for the trash); metallic paint by Jacquard (copper and bronze, now mainly obliterated by added elements); Perfect Pearl Powder in metallics; regular PVA white glue; salvaged, wrinkly brown shipping paper; decorative edged scissors; Ranger mini mister spray bottles; Exact-o Knife; box cutter knife; various old brushes; sand paper; embossing gun; waxed paper.

I cut out the text block and kept it whole, but I chose some pages with fun images to tear, wrinkle and tint first. I cut the foam core remnant as a base, leaving about an inch jutting out of the fore edge end. That temporary extra bit added some stability while the glue dried. It got trimmed away prior to the addition of the Mod Podge parts. 
The remainder of the foam core remnant (of about the same width) was used to help me keep the wonky old cover from warping as things dried. This glue step took me 3 days, while I added and smoothed the PVA into every nook and cranny, allowing each bit to dry. Once this had finally all dried, I used the distressed bits of pages (maps and machinery from the steam era) along with the brown paper I'd kept from a package that had come to the door a week or two before. These got glued on with my old standby, Mod Podge.

I lined the innards  with 12" by 12" patterned papers, keeping to a black and white color way for both patterns used. Mod Podge worked really well for the trickier inner corners, etc. Next, I cut the decorative edged strips used to cover the book's raw edges, and Podged those into place. Die cut letters and gadgets I added embossing powder to before gluing into place. The clock face is from Plush Possum Studio, my older blog. This was originally from a 1907 or 1908 magazine in my own collection of antique ephemera. I used it as an afterthought.

3 of the Ingredients were things normally destined for trash or recycle. These included the brown shipping paper, the foam core remnant, and the unused, slightly wonky vintage (not antique) book.

I am still not done with the embellishing part. You see, every time I look at this project, even though it is completely dry and in use today, I think of MORE things that could be done to it!
:)

For the clock, or rather, watch face, you can visit its page at my older blog HERE.

The final ingredient: Enjoyment of the trash-to-treasure process!

Thanks to Carolyn Dube for the really enjoyable and challenging prompt!

Creative Play Begins Again

Time to revive an old journal

Well, I've done it. It took me several days to get things going for this 2 page spread. It is not what I was aiming for, yet I am growing more positive about it, and I think that's good.

The inner critic was very severe on this one. I very nearly did not post it. Today, however, I thought that I would take another look at it and try and figure out why I did not like it at first. Thank you, Carolyn, for making this easier.
:)

Carolyn's Theme
This time, I carved the end of an old bottle cork that someone had given me. It had to be a simple enough pattern in order to make a repeat pattern border. I like how rough it is, and how it varies from impression to impression. It would normally be a throwaway object, if ever there was one.

Tools and Media
The mixed media piece incorporates watercolor with pigment ink pads and acrylic sepia ink (bottle type), along with collage. The collaged leaves are from a pack of small, lined pages meant for a pocket organizer of some sort. These were a lucky thrift store find. I thought that I might add a few words or a poem or good quote to these page leaves, but I ended up leaving them blank.

Other things used include an old Canson All Media spiral bound journal, a spray bottle for the ink mixture, a hand cut stencil, a pre-made stencil for letters, brushes, matte gel medium (my fave journal adhesive of all time), a vintage adjustable office stamp for the date, Sharpie markers, and (weirdly) liquid paper. The right hand wears a friendly butterfly, while the left is a tree that's sheltered a pretty moth. The collaged magazine words above the moth are "for and about emerging." The words at the bottom of the spread are, "To be an artist is to believe in life." It is a quote from UK sculptor, Henry Moore. 

I believe that each one of us is creative, and this makes everybody an artist in different ways.

Here is the spread.

Journal Page 1: Leaves in a Forest

Following Carolyn Dube's prompt

I saw what she had done using envelopes, then remembered another project of mine from years past. I like the "innards" of security envelopes. I also like the way they tend to take Pigment inks.

When I started this page, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I have a healthy respect for people who can do such things on the fly. Usually, it takes me days or weeks of processing ideas just to get this far.

The page started with an old coptic bound watercolor journal. The binding I did myself, in hopes of making the original hardback book flatten for me when open. The paper is not as fine as I'd like. It does tend to buckle and also to allow washes to seep. On the other hand, I like its creamy, deckled edge appeal. (sorry-the brand name escapes me)

The page was "framed" in a color wash of my favorite Sepia acrylic ink. I applied coffee colored pigment stamp ink to the torn envelope's inside look of black and white hatch marks. Over this then went a small watercolor sketch from a different pad. For this I used Inktense watercolor pencils for the sake of delicacy and speed.
My only adhesive throughout was Liquitex Matte Gel Medium.

The leaves I had gathered from a walkway in front of my door. The wind had shuffled a small pile of last fall's leaves into a tiny crevice. These begged to have their portraits done. That was my first real inspiration in ages. Behind and within the Sepia frame I chose to make a spontaneous "mask" out of blue painter's tape to evoke a sense of space with trees. The soft, pretty blue is from a stamp pad which had never before been opened. It is from Studio G, a pigment chalk ink with no name. This I applied using an Inkssentials pad and applicator, fading down as I went.

I framed out the leaves with some fibrous paper of some sort--we'll call it "mystery paper." I probably never had to buy that piece. Instead, I more than likely acquired it at a swap of some sort, several years ago.

Years ago, I used to paint at every single opportunity. Years ago, I wrote in journals and embellished nearly everything I could. This week's new adventure using my old inks, paints and stamp pads has been like a trip down memory lane for me. It has also taught me that many of my supplies need replacing!

And one other thing. Despite the lack of supplies, including the right brush for the job, buckling sheets of the wrong kinds of paper, and a few interruptions, I made it to the finish line today. I know I am not early to the party, but at least I know that I've arrived.
:)

~Rose

Welcome to the Art Garden, where art and design meet grown-up playtime!

The background here was just made by me as a way of playing when experimenting. This was so much fun! For a change, I am relaxing more about art again. This once was not all that tough a thing for me to accomplish. You see, I used to play very easily with all of my supplies and even enjoyed trying new ideas. 

Sadly, when life got away from me with no time left in which to creatively play and relax, the art supplies had to remain stored away out of sight. That this went on for years is the very reason why I took a major hiatus from keeping my freebie blog going.

Now, you know I truly love Plush Possum Studio. I really do. Somehow, though, it has begun to cut into my creative play time a little too often.

Currently, I have an interest in lightening up and becoming less scared of using what remains of my long neglected art supplies. In following along with Carolyn Dube's "Let's Play!" art challenges, I hope to renew my focus and relearn how to just relax and have a good time while playing with art and design. I imagine that I will mostly use an art journal (or journals), along with ATC's and other items. But I might even dive into the realm of 3 dimensional art again, for the first time in years!

This is to be a year long process. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay the course and really learn along the way. Thanks to Carolyn Dube's freeing attitude, I find myself encouraged already to begin again. Won't you join the rest of her followers and give this fun 12 month challenge a try?

Her first challenge may be found when you follow the link using her badge, to the right of this post.

And, by the way, as soon as my first project for the Challenge is ready to be seen, you may be sure that I'll add it here. 

Thank you for stopping by!
:)

(As I am always saying at the other blog,)
Happy Creativity!