Altered Artsy Almanac

Hello everyone! A new fun challenge is up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog, 'A is for'. I had so many ideas for this challenge and couldn't make up my mind. Then I got the phrase 'Altered Artsy Almanac' in my head and remembered a planner from some years ago that I never used.

 

'Almanac' is a common word in Swedish for a calendar or a planner, I think it might mean something slightly different in English, more in the line of weather, tides, planting times and such. I wasn't sure what to do with my almanac, but figured that something that was meant for planning a year, might work well for recording a year too. I used a bunch of different techniques to make this and turned it into a tutorial. 

 

The original planner, just a plain planner.

I started by gluing pages together with multi-medium, leaving me with 12 spreads, one for each month. They were left to dry overnight, under a book with wax paper in between each page. Then I gave each page a coat of gesso. The planner had really thin paper and they didn't handle the gel and the gesso very well, with quite a bit of warping involved. I almost gave up, but decided that it wouldn't matter and wouldn't show as much in the end.

When the gesso was dry, the pages were coloured with Gelatos. I knew I was going to use Graphic 45 A Place in Time 8 x 8 papers, which contains pages for every month of the year and picked colours to fit with the patterned papers. Just scribble the Gelatos over the gesso and then spread and blend with a paint brush and water.

Each page has different colours. My son actually helped a bit with the colouring, but since precision wasn't necessary here, that was fine. Except that he wants to include a bit of black everywhere, which would have created mud.

After finishing preparing the inside pages it was time for the cover. I embossed foil tape in two different embossing folders. I used the bubble folder embossed foil on the back.

I coloured the cover with Patina Ink (Verdigris, Marine and Moss), applying the inks with a paint brush and letting them blend into even more shades. The Patina Inks dry very quickly.

Lightly burnish to reveal some of the metal.

Water down Black Soot paint and paint the cover. Leave for just a little while and then wipe most of the paint off with a cloth.

I swept a Ranger Emboss-It Dabber around the edges and embossed with Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing Enamel. The Prima metallic rose was also embossed with a little bit of Teal and Silver powder. Be careful since it gets hot.

The letters were die cut from grungeboard with the new Vintage Market die. They were painted silver, sanded and scratched and inked with Black Soot. I coated them with Glossy Accents. The Prima metallic word was embossed with a little bit of silver powder. I used washi tape to cover the joint between the two pieces of foil. Quite a transformation from the plain black cover.

I used the Graphic 45 papers to decorate the inside pages. I made sure to include enough space to write on. I used similar parts of the 8 x 8 papers on each page, but still have lots of left-overs.

Potting Soil ink was used to ink the edges of the pages and I also stamped each page randomly with a different background stamp, using Jet Black Stazon ink.

I made sure that the month on the original planner pages showed through at least on one place on each spread. Love the bird images here.

On each page spread I used the monthly planner paper, a strip of postage stamps, and a title strip.

The background stamping adds nice texture to the pages. This script stamp is from Darkroom Door.

 

Beautiful flower images for June. 



I tried to pick stamps that fit with the months, a wavy scalloped pattern for the sea images of July.  

August, apples and pears.

As you might know, I love text and script stamps, this is a part of a Hero Arts stamp.

 

September, with some sweet school time images.

 

My son's favourite page, and here he could add some black Gelato to the background too.

As you can see, the initially warping of the pages, isn't as visible once they are decorated.

The gesso gives a nice surface for the Gelatos and also makes the pages sturdier.

 

And finally December, with a new favourite background stamp, Tiny Star Background by Hero Arts.

I hope you will join us this week! As always, one random participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Surfaces: Graphic 45 A Place in Time 8 x 8 paper pad; Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grungeboard; old planner; Ranger Metal Foil Tape Sheets

Dies: Sizzix: Vintage Market
Embossing folders: Sizzix: Clocks & Print Blocks; Bubble & Honeycomb,

Stamps: Darkroom Door: French Script; Hero Arts: Tiny Star Background, Coupon Background, Lacy Background, Tiny Heart Background, Lattice Background, Grid Pattern, Three Cats, Snow Dots; Prima: Lines; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Seasonal Catalog 1

Ink: Ranger/Vintaj Patina Ink: Weathered Copper, Victorian Gable; Archival Ink: Potting Soil; Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs, Black Soot; Tsukineko Stazon: Jet Black; Ranger Emboss-It Dabber

Embossing powder: Stampendous: Aged Silver Embossing Enamel, Teal Encrusted Jewel Kit

Paint: Faber-Castell Gelatos: Gift Set, 50s Diner; Ranger Adirondack Silver Dabber: Distress Paint: Black Soot

Medium: Ranger Claudine Hellmuth: Gesso, Multi-Medium Matte

Embellishments: Prima: Sunrise Sunset Flowers, Sunrise Sunset Roses, Plate & Label