Altered Book Art Journal

 I love finding old books at library sales and using them for a plethora things beyond reading and reference! I know there are those who cringe at the thought of destroying a book. That would only bother me if it were a rare, limited edition, or absolutely ancient. But this fairly recent spiral bound book on the subject of housekeeping is ideal for transforming into an art journal for next year. 

Book price: fifty cents. Supplies: what I have on hand.

Going through my scrapbook papers stash

 

BEFORE: Inside cover--my cutout images layed out

AFTER: Inside cover

Supplies on hand: white paint, mod podge, gloss sealer spray

Began the inside cover with a light coat of white acrylic

Positioned my cutout images right on the paint, let dry, and then painted on mod podge

Added a scrapbook paper and images on the right, mod podge, let dry, then gloss sealer on both sides.

 My scrapbooking papers stash has come out to play, along with white acrylic paint, mod podge and gloss sealer spray. Now that I have all the inside pages painted--that is, all the pages I wanted to destroy because I've actually kept a few in tact just for fun--I am ready to do the cover, the inside, and then gradually add papers, stamping and decoration to all of the painted pages. For one, this will help them not stick together, since I painted them and didn't use gesso. And two, this book will be prepared for all the art journaling...just like the concept of a Smash book. Only, I'm doing it my way with some mixed media. And that's what really makes it fun.

I decided to put some cross-stitch on the cover--my theme is heART Journal, and then I found these stamp-like images on some scrapbook paper stock and that's when the mod podge came out! I cut out the ones I liked and this became my cover and inside cover decorations. As I work on this ongoing altered book project, off and on, it will probably take a few more weeks to get all the pages prepared. I'm going to label the months in here for 2013, and boom! I've got an art journal, made from a fifty cent book and all my scraps.

A scrap piece of tea-stained aida cloth, some floss, and a design I just made up as I stitched.

The original cover

 Eat, Write, Dream, and Stitch the unexpected.