Sunday 24 November 2013

Take a leaf out of my book...

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with an autumn mini-journal for you.  There's time for a last breath of autumn before we kick into gear for Christmas, isn't there?!


I had great fun altering this little papier mâché book (8 x 11cm, and there's an even tinier one still to come), and creating a mini-album to go inside.


I started by covering it with some Tim Holtz tissue wrap, leaving the "edges of the pages" just with a coat of gesso (thick enough and on a hard bristled brush, so you get some "pages" showing - I'll see if I can find a picture showing that later).


Next step was to stamp the new Leaves Background onto the front and back covers.  I used lots of Archival inks on the stamp: Sepia, Sienna, Coffee and Plum, all blended on there.


Distress Inks next: Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, and probably some Rusty Hinge if I remember correctly.


I ended up giving it a coat of medium to seal it, which meant some of the Distress Inks faded a bit with the brush strokes, but I'm fine with that, as it brought the leaves to the fore again.


Time to create what's going inside.  I cut some pages to size (pretty much ATC-size) and did some wrinkle-free distress technique with lots of warm golden brown inks and stains.  I also added a couple of spritzes of Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold to the craft mat before smooshing through with the pages, so you get a lovely golden shimmer in places.


I used the gorgeous new Journalling Words #5, one per page - it's the US version of "journaling" with one "l", but I guess I can work with that!  Just love all those fonts.


On the reverse sides I used some of the new Katy Fox stamps - the Leaves...


... and the Dates, again stamped in Archival inks, mainly Coffee and Sepia.  Apologies, this was all done after dark - how early is it getting dark already?! - so these are flash photos.

So, enough of the process, let's see some photos of the finished thing by daylight, shall we?


I love that the spine looks like a real old leather volume, burnished with age.


I added some Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs to the cover.


And look how the mini-album nestles just inside the book.



Here's a close-up of that cover, also using the leaves background and some Rock Candy crackle paint.

More crackle paint inside the cover of the box, with layers of autumnal paint shades.


And here are some of the internal pages.  I interleaved them with some hand-made paper pages, and added some stamping using my all-time favourite Calligraphy Mat, number 19!









Oh, almost forgot... here's the promised shot of the "pages" - click for a close-up if you need to!


So that's probably my farewell to autumnal crafting for this year - it's always a sheer pleasure to play with these colours and images, but with the temperature dropping rapidly and Advent Sunday almost upon us, it's probably time to let go soon!


Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed taking a leaf out of my book (sorry, appalling pun, but it tickled me!).  If you've already moved on to sparklier times, you could come and play along in our Christmas challenge this month at The Artistic Stamper - you've still got about a week to go.  Hope to see you there!

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper Stamps: Katy Fox - Leaves, Dates; Backgrounds - Leaves; Calligraphy Mat #19;
Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs
Distress Inks - Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Rusty Hinge
Archival Inks - Sepia, Coffee, Sienna, Plum
Perfect Pearls Mist - Heirloom Gold
Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap
Claudine Hellmuth - Multi-Medium and Gesso

35 comments:

Brenda Brown said...

Fabulous project, love that you've kept the autumn theme going.
hugs {brenda} x0x

mark gould said...

beautiful, I love how the leaves look with the blended colours and the tim paper underneath x

Emma Burns said...

Beautiful. Love the crackle effect. xx

Michelle said...

Beautiful! Those are my favorite distress ink colors. Love the effects that you achieved with them. Gorgeous!

Terry said...

Love the richness of this project! The colors and the crackle are amazing! Hugs!

Debi said...

cool cool COOL!! love it - perfect colour and texture of an old book, Debi x

Helen said...

Beautiful, Alison - love the colours - Autumn is my favourite time of year; not too hot, hopefully not too wet; not too cold. The book is just wonderful and I love the mini album inside.

Astrid Maclean said...

Gorgeous book and mini Alison, - great use of those stamps and I love those warm autumnal brown hues!

cathylynn said...

You're so darn creative! This is a beautiful Autumn creation and the mini book on the inside is brilliant. A gorgeous project Alison.
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Deborah said...

Love the book within a book - brilliant!

Amanda said...

Fabulous!! Love the book in a book in those rich beautiful colours
Love
Amanda x

kateri said...

Wonderful project. I really studied every page because they were all so beautiful. I hope to see the next project that you mentioned very soon.

Cocofolies said...

Utterly beautiful... Love the theme, the book and its contents, and the colours !.. Hugs Coco x

rachel said...

amazing project - love it xx

krcmasterpiece said...

aren't these projects fun? I love doing stuff like this. Yours turned out great!

massofhair said...

Autumn is also my fave season, love autumnul colours, you have created a wonderful project:-)

Redanne said...

A really beautiful project Alison, love the rich, warm colours you used and the mini album is a delight. Hugs, Anne x

Unknown said...

This is gorgeous Alison, an autumnal hit with me. Chris xxx

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Gorgeous!!!!

Paper Profusion said...

Totally gorgeous Alison! Your 'leather' looks very authentic and the warm colours are wonderful. Nicola x

Julie Lee said...

Wonderful! I am totally in love with the spine of this - it's my favourite part of the whole gorgeous project. I love the Autumn, and Kurt Weil's September Song is one of my favourite songs of all time. Somehow I hear it sung by Lotte Lenya as I look at this exquisite little vintage creation. Julie Ann xx

Marjie Kemper said...

How fabulous! Love the cover especially - awesome!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous, old leathery appearance as though this was unearthed from an old Gent's library.
Adore the small journals nestled inside.
Wishes
Lynne

Maggie said...

Gorgeous altered book and mini album Alison love the rich Autumn colours and images.

MaggieH

Dorthe said...

Wonderful book, Alison - love the crackle inside, and the spine ,-and such a beautiful mini album with the wonderful leaves stamps, and your fantastic colours used.
xoxo Dorthe

Nan G said...

Fabulous cover on the box! Love those leaves and the ink blending. Darling little mini too. So the Brit version uses two "L's"? Hugs :)

Dianne said...

UTTERLY SUPERB I'm totally in looooove with it, thanks for sharing......

Sue Lelli said...

FABULOUS, Alison! I made something out of that book box once, too, and i found it so much FUN to play with! LOVE your mini book inside and the crackle detail!

Titbelsoeur, mixed-media addict said...

your book is stunning !! love the colours, and everything !!

Jools Robertson said...

What a beautiful little book, the detail is exquisite
I love those stamps, must acquire them!

Hugs

Jools x

Hettie said...

This is gorgeous Alison. Love the warm colours.
Hugs
xx

Anonymous said...

Amazing. And very beautiful.

Silvia(Barnie) said...

That's an amazing project.

Artyjen said...

Lovely project...I'm a sucker for Autumn colours too ;)
xoxo Sioux

Kezzy said...

Wow wow wow absolutely gorgeous, I love the colours and wow a little journal as well, beautiful. Kezzy :-) xxx