Art Notebook Cover

I decided to make something for the fun of it while I am staying indoors and trying to keep warm.  I try to make notes of the products I am using in projects as I go along so that I can keep the clutter at a minimum as I am working but have the information available to do my blog posts without having to dig everything out again.  I found these great composition notebooks for 50 cents each at WalMart and decided to jazz one up.

I started by coating the cover, front and back with a coat of Liquitex Gesso.  Once dry, I added some Golden Molding Paste through a Heidi Swapp Harlequin stencil in random spots.  I also added some drywall tape in other random spots.

Next I covered the cover with alcohol ink from Ranger.  I used a blend of Wild Plum, Eggplant and Copper Mixative in some areas and a blend of Lemonade and Peach Bellini in other areas.  Once it was dry I gave the cover a watered down coat of Gesso and then spritzed it with some Pegleg Pete Purple Moonshine Mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang.

Next I did some random second generation stamping using Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger.  The stamps I used were from Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge set and from Wendy Vecchi's True Art set.

Next I started to collect some embellishments and alter some of them.  The letters are a mix of chipboard from my stash and wooden letters from Dollarama.  I gave each one a coat of Gesso and then I painted them with Orchid and Wild Orchid Acrylic Paint from Americana and Purple Pearl Metallic paint from Deco Art.  I used a Recollections script stamp and some Ranger Deep Purple Archival Ink to add some interest to a couple of the letters.

The flowers are a mixture of roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, a wooden piece from Dollarama, a Recollections daisy and a silk flower that I took apart and painted.  One flower layer was painted with Wild Orchid and the other was painted with Purple Pearl and then rubbed with some Festive Berries Distress Ink from Ranger.  I added a dollar store pearl to the centre of one flower, a button from my stash to another and a tiny rose to the last one.

I altered a little metal frame and a filigree medallion with some Wild Plum and Eggplant Alcohol Ink.  I painted a little metal butterfly that was a gift from my friend Pamellia with Purple Pearl paint.  I added some beads, gems and cup sequins from my stash.

Finally, because the Gesso and other media made the covers warp a bit and want to pop open, I added a button to the front and back with a string closure.  The string is attached at the back and finishes at the back  One suggestion is that you make sure that your string will wrap around the back button a number of times to determine what length you need.  I just wrapped mine around twice and cut it only to discover that it has a tendency to spring loose.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Alphabet Soup
The Mirror Crack'd - Album/Journal Cover
Inky Chicks - Flowers
Altered Eclectics - Anthing Goes (must be altered item or mixed media)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Altered Item/Mixed Media

Making Rust

Recently I went looking through my stash of completed cards to see if I had an appropriate one to send to my brother for his birthday and I found one - I mean only one in a box of maybe 100 cards.  I decided then and there I better make a few more cards for men so I wasn't scrambling at the last minute when the need for one arose.

The timing was rather perfect because then I could play in the current challenge at The Artist Trading Post Exchange challenge blog where they want mixed media projects based on a photo that looks like rusted metal.  The challenge is called Any Old Iron and I think my card fits the bill.

I decided to try my hand at turning white card stock into something that looked rusty and after searching on the internet for techniques I settled on one from Gingersnap Creations but gave it a few of my own twists.

As I said I started with a large sheet of white card stock.  Then I covered it with Mod Podge, making sure it was quite thick.  Next I randomly sprinkled sand on it, which I snagged from some my husband had in the garage for use on the driveway when it gets really icy.  I originally put a thin coat of Mod Podge on with a credit card but the sand didn't stick so if you try this, make sure to glop it on and then the sand will settle into the glue.  I then set it aside to dry overnight.

Once it was fully dry, I took a stenciling brush and randomly smooshed on four colours of Folk Art craft paint - Pure Black, Coffee Bean, Charcoal Grey and Terra Cotta.  I dipped my brush in combinations of the first three colours for the most part and only added the Terra Cotta for small sections.

Once the paint was dry I mixed Meadow, Aqua and Copper Mixative Adirondack Alcohol Inks and dabbed that on in random spots.  Then I rubbed here and there with some Oxynite Treasure Gold.  Finally I added a slightly thinned out coat of Mod Podge to make sure the sand stayed put.  The end result was a fairly stiff but still a bit flexible rusty looking sheet.

Next I made a metal foil panel.  Again I started with a piece of white card stock and added some bits of drywall tape, some ric rac and a few washers.  Then I cut small pieces of foil tape used in the heating and air conditioning industry and added them in both directions to cover the card stock and the bits and pieces.  I used an embossing tool to go around everything and then some Walnut Hollow metal working tools to create texture and pattern.

The next step was to give the whole thing a coat of the Coffee Bean paint and wipe away some of it, leaving some paint in the recesses of the piece.  Next I added a blended combination of Rust, Ginger and Caramel Adirondack Alcohol Ink to the whole piece and then followed that up with the Meadow, Aqua and Copper Mixative combination in a few spots.

An image from the Tim Holtz Time Traveler stamp set and a sentiment from the Tim Holtz Simple Sayings stamp set were stamped onto some scrap card stock with Ranger's Jet Black Archival ink.  The sentiment was cut apart and then I sponged the edges of all the stamped pieces with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger.

All that was left was to glue everything down on a card blank made from some Bazzill card stock.  Finally I added some rusty pieces of hardware - two screw heads and another thing that I have no idea what it is but it looked cool when I dug it out of the jar.

I have started making my Christmas list for Santa and putting copies everywhere.  Besides lots of crafting supplies, I want a good photo setup - the weather has been up and down here and so has the quality of my photos.  I sure hope Santa realizes that I have been a really good girl this past year :)

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Any Old Iron
The Paper Girls - Mixed Media
Cupcake Inspirations - Photo/Color Inspiration
Suzy Bee's Challenge - Anything Goes with a twist to make it male
Stamplorations - Stamps and Layers
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge  - Stamps