Altered Books

I found a group of old album sets at a garage sale.  The first thing that struck me were the graphics.  I thought they were really cool.  The vinyl albums were either missing, broken or extremely scratched but, I thought the covers were still in good condition for their age.  I'm converting them to art journals and here is the first one:

All four albums that I purchased

This is the one I'm converting first

The inside of the book.  I'm measuring two pieces of paper and one will go in front of the album insert and the other behind it 

Measured sheet on the front

Close up picture.  I cut off the excess bulk of the album insert keeping only the part I need to attach the paper too.  I scored the paper so the book will lie flat when open

Papers were attached using the super sticky red tape

Finished journal with the first page completed.  This is a pen and ink watercolor using a "how to" book by Jane Wunder.

For this album, I decided not to do anything further to the front or inside cover.  I was attracted to it because of the cover so, why change that.  The completed book holds 6 pages so I can do 12 pictures overall using the front and back.  I used watercolor paper for this book.  It was a fun project and I already had the paper so, the total additional cost was $1.00.  What a deal!

One really nice thing about this is that the book already has pieces of chipboard in the spine due to the width of the vinyl albums.  I left that in place which gives me some room if I want to add 3D embellishments.

Love is...

I was at an estate sale today and they were selling albums with collections of the old comics called "Love Is..."  The ones I bought were from 1971 to 1973 but they said the husband gave his wife one everyday out of the newspaper and she saved them all.  Such a sweet story.  I have a portion of the collection and I was thinking about making ATC's out of it or maybe even a collage.  I have not formulated a definite plan yet but I'll come up with something.  These seem especially suited for Valentines Day.  Hopefully, I'll use some before then though!

Digital Stamps

I have enjoyed using digital stamps and there are many free versions you can get off various websites.  I came across a digital stamp artist that compelled me to purchase some stamps.  The cost of a digital stamp is usually cheaper than a wood mounted stamp that you may see at a craft store.   The advantage of digital stamps is that you can get an immediate download of them.  You then save it on your computer and can use it over and over again and vary the size by the project you are working on.  You simply size up the image and print it.  I make sure I'm using good quality paper when I print it plus, I make sure the ink is completely dry before I start coloring it.  I recommend you experiment with whatever you are going to color with on some scrap paper and see how it reacts with your printer ink.

I've used digital stamps in 2 ways.  One is to simply print out the image, color it then cut it out for my project.  The second way is to print it out on scrap paper then trace it onto your project.

The stamps I'm using today are by Rick St. Dennis.  Here is a link to his website if you would like to take a look.  From this website, you can shop or go to some of his tutorials.

http://rickstdennis.blogspot.com/

Yupo Paper

I have seen other Artist note that their work was done on Yupo paper and until just recently, I have never heard of it.  It's a 100% synthetic paper that artists mostly use either for watercolors or with alcohol inks.  I decided to give it a try so, I went to my local art store who only carried it in big sheets but the cost was not bad at a little under $5.00 per sheet.

I'm prefer working with watercolor vs alcohol so that's what I concentrated on.  The paper in nonporous so the color floats on the top until it's dry.  While it's wet, you can apply various techniques to it to make the paints swirl or add texture to it.

Here is what I ended up doing with it:

As you can see it still retains the look of watercolor but is another way to work with the paints.  One really nice part about it is if you mess it up, you simply apply water and wipe it off, even after it has dried.  I also used this wipe away technique on the daisies.  Originally the card was all blue but, I wiped about the petals for the flower using a wet brush.  For the stems and leaves, I put a business card into the paint and the ran the edge of the paint on the card.  I also used brushes on the leaves.  It's fun so, if you enjoy watercoloring, give it a try.