Altered Journey Notebook

We are focusing on words and sentiments this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show, with our challenge 'Quotable' - be inspired by well-known quotes, family sayings, stamped sentiments, and anything else you can think of.

You might already know that I love to use quotes in my art, and this week I decided to alter a notebook as a gift to a friend.

Last year, I got a few of these notebooks (17.5 12.5 cm), you can find a tutorial for altering one of them here. I wanted to use one of my favourite quote stamps from Tim Holtz, which is a quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I thought it worked well on an altered journey notebook. The new Stacked Artful Words die fit very well together with the stamped sentiment.

I first disassembled the book, to make it easier to alter the covers without messing up the inside pages. The background was covered with Melange tissue wrap, applied with multi-medium. I adhered tissue tape all along the edges to round them off, brushing a bit of multi-medium at the back of the tape to make sure it would stick down well. A white paint wash was brushed over the tissue paper. When dry, I brushed on brown paint mixed with water and wiped some of it off.

I love Tim's new Cameo Frame die and since it is a Movers & Shapers die, you can do so many different things with it. The new Sized Ovals are another favourite of mine and here I placed the mid-sized one inside the Cameo Frame before die cutting the frame from red kraft core cardstock. I was happy to discover that the Cameo Frame and the ovals coordinate with the Book Covers textured fades. Loved the look of the embossed frame. It was sanded to reveal the kraft core and inked lightly. Then I sprayed it with Biscotti Perfect Pearls for some vintage shine.

The sentiment was stamped on a piece of manila cardstock which had first been coloured with Distress Stains. I smeared them on my craft sheet, misted the paper with water and dragged it into the inks (Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, bit of Brushed Pewter).

The sentiment was cut twice from manila cardstock and glued together with Glossy Accents to make it a bit thicker and sturdier. It was inked with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap. I used the Vintage Globe last week, and just had to use it again here since it fit so well with the sentiments. It was given a totally different look this week. I die cut it twice from grungeboard, only using the continents from the second die cut.

The water was inked with Salty Oceans, the continents with Mowed Lawn and the stand with Gathered Twigs. I stamped my favourite Tim Holtz alphabet stamp on the stand and water with Jet Black ink and then glued the continents on top with Glossy Accents. Finally, the whole piece was coated with Glossy Accents, which also blends the ink in nice ways. It looks pretty cool in real life. I placed a wood veneer woman on top of the world, a detail I know that my friend is going to like. The layered gears were added to the globe with a brad.

The arrow was also die cut from grungeboard and inked with Salty Oceans and Mowed Lawn. I stamped just one word from a larger sentiment stamp on it and coated with Glossy Accents.

One of my favourite little birds also wanted to be on the cover, inked the same way as the arrow, coated with Glossy Accents and a bit of dry Rock Candy glitter was sprinkled into the glue.

I painted the inside covers with the same colours that I used on the outside, stamped with the alphabet background stamp and a sentiment stamp. I thought this one fit well on an altered notebook.

Here's the inside of the back cover. Love this sentiment.

On the back cover, I made sure to include one of the large butterflies from the tissue wrap. The book was assembled again and ready to be given away to my friend.

I am looking forward to seeing all the great quotes and sentiments that will be used in projects this week, and you don't want to miss the wonderful projects of my team mates. As every week, our sponsor Simon Says Stamp gives a $50 gift voucher to one random participant and the team also picks three top projects.

Thank you for looking! I'll be back later this week with a tutorial using the Cameo Frame die. 

Happy Crafting!

Anna-Karin  

Supplies:
Dies: Sizzix: Cameo Frame, Stacked Artful Words, Sized Ovals, Mini Old Jalopy & Arrow, Vintage Fan & Globe, Mini Bird & Cage
Embossing folder: Sizzix Book Covers
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Stuff to Say, School Desk, Words for Thought, Urban Tapestry
Ink: Distress Ink: Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo; Archival Ink Jet Black
Paint: Adirondack Snow Cap, Mushroom, Espresso
Stain: Distress Stain: Brushed Pewter, Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen
Mist: Biscotti Perfect Pearls
Glitter: Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Rock Candy
Surfaces: Ranger manila cardstock; Tim Holtz Idea-ology Melange Tissue Wrap, Grungeboard; Core'dinations Tim Holtz Kraft-Core cardstock
Embellishments: Studio Calico wood veneer Potty People; Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sprocket Gears, Mini Gears, Long Fasteners, Terminology tissue tape

Adhesive: Claudine Hellmuth matte multi-medium; Ranger Glossy Accents