Altered Book Art Journal

I have dozens of Gelli Arts prints so it was time to get creative! I wanted to share a little tutorial on how i made an art journal using some of my favorite prints. I believe that it's easier than it looks!

I altered an old hardback book to make an art journal by removing the inner pages and stitching the folded prints using a simple bookbinding stitch. When I choose a book to alter, I want to make sure that it has a stitched binding, not a glued one. Notice in the picture below the gap between the book cover and the binding. This is what I want so that I can remove the pages with ease. I use an craft knife to remove the pages from the cover. I save the pages for other projects. I alter the cover by glueing my Gelli prints on with matte medium, then reinforce the spine by adding duct tape. I fold my prints into signatures and trim to fit. The signatures consist of 4 prints stacked and folded. Depending on how wide the spine is will depend on how many signatures can go into the art journal. Using this method allows the book and the pages to lay flatter. The finished one pictured below has 4 signatures sewn in.

The last picture includes some of the supplies i use and is a journal that i am currently working on. I used my camera stencils for many of the prints that will go inside in addition to the cover. The spine is wider so I think I can fit 5 signatures. Incidentally, 1 signature with 4 sheets of paper folded in half has 16 pages (front and back.) So there is lots of opportunity to create an artistic scrapbook and/or art journal.

Tattered floral challenge

I  have 3 or 4 blogs that I check regularly and always find lots of inspiring projects or tutorials that help kick start my creativity.  Tonight, I checked Tim Holtz's blog and found a tutorial using the new Distress Paints and the Tattered Flowers Sizzix Die, which cuts 4 different sized and shaped flowers.  Here is the link:  http://timholtz.com/tattered-floral-challenge/.  I rarely have most of the supplies to make his projects, but I just purchased a few of the Distress Paints last weekend and had not opened them.  So I broke out the Vagabond and grungeboard and here is what i came up with:

I love the bright colors and really don't want to layer them and cover up all that beautiful color. I had another incentive for entering this challenge; Tim is giving away $100, so wish me luck! 

My first post!!!

This is the start of a new adventure for me!  I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but my frustration level for all things technical outweighed my desire to share my artsy curiosity with the world...........until now!  I am on a steep learning curve, so this blog may look totally different a few weeks from now as I figure things out.  But, the most important thing is to start sharing my passion for mixed media art. 

With that said, I'd like to share my latest obsession with the Gelli Arts Gelli Plate.  I can hear you asking yourself right now, "What is this thing she is blathering about?"  It's a squishy, sticky, flexible rectangle of  silicon that is perfect for the art technique called monoprinting.  Here's how it works:  You brayer a thin layer of acrylic paint onto the surface and then use various objects, like stencil and stamps, to make images.  Then press a piece of your favorite paper and smooth it out, pull it up and, tada, you have a wonderful print. I've made dozens of prints using the 8x10 plate and now I am looking for creative ideas for using them!  Here are a few of my recent favorite prints:

Gelli Arts Print with Henna Hands Stencil

I think there may be a Gelli Arts tutorial in this blog's future!  Here is the link to the Gelli Arts website: http://www.gelliarts.com/

Thank you for sharing my first post with me!  Please leave a comment below and come back soon for more inspiration!