Altered Book Cover

Today is the start of the June challenge at Stamps and Stencils and Lula, our hostess calls the challenge Do Judge A Book By Its Cover!  Here is how she describes the challenge:

Reading books has been my favourite activity ever since. I am also addicted to altering ordinary items surrounding us. For this challenge I I'd like you to alter any book cover. Creating altered cover is something anyone can do because your only limitation is your own imagination. You can use any type of books from children's books or user manuals to art journals. Don't forget to use stamping or stenciling and join us in the fun!

I was happy when I saw this challenge because I knew it would give me an opportunity to transform something I had at home into an art journal.

I went to my craft book library and selected this book to transform.  I bought it when it first came out in 1972 with the intention of teaching myself how to recover a chair.  I read it and realized that it was something that required classes if I was ever going to be successful and there was no time for that so it has been sitting on the shelf ever since.  Good thing it was only $2.50.

I started altering the cover by giving it a coat of white Gesso (Liquitex) and then using a small brayer, I added Smoked Paprika, Candy Floss and Zesty Zing Fresco Finish paint (Paper Artsy).

Next I added some stenciling with a Harlequin stencil (TCW) and Translucent Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi) but it did not show up the way I hoped so stay tuned for a later photo that will show you how I fixed that.  You can see a bit on the bottom of the following photo but only because the light hit it.

I added a whole bunch of bits and pieces - lace, metal, wood, buttons, etc. using Soft Gel Medium (Golden).  Then I covered all my bits and pieces with more white Gesso.

After the Gesso was dry I sprayed the cover with Bubblegum Pink, Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange ink sprays (Dylusions).

Next I added some stamping with Watering Can Archival Ink (Wendy Vecchi) and stamps from Faded Fragments (Seth Apter) and a mixed set THMM101 (Tim Holtz).

Here is a photo of the embossing paste and stencil I used but make the stenciling more visible I lid the stencil back down and using a sponge and some white Gesso, I pounced some colour on.  Because I had to work around the bits and pieces, I missed a few spots but all in all it still looks much better.

So there is my new art journal ready for creating inside.  I hope you will find a book and alter it to create something new and fun.  If you do, please join us for the challenge - it runs until July 4th at 20:00 UK Time.