How I Made my cover

This is how i made my cover for my mixed media art journal.  I really love how it came out.  I kept touching it..

I do need to be better at sewing the papers together (aligning wise) it was a tad off but still off enough to bother me.. LOL

I used distressed the grungepaper with TH distress ink Frayed Burlap.  

I used the TH tool at first but it was taking too long and just started using the ink pad directly onto the grungepaper then used the spongey thing to swipe the ink.. worked so much better (for me)

After the ink dried (used heat tool to help it along) i used some Tattered Angel glimmer mist (Suede)

After I had glimmer mist and inked it and i wanted a lil bit more of an orange'ish color I added another color of distressed ink to it.  I used TH's Rusty Hinge to it.  It worked for the feel i was looking for.  

In this step i used the following products to acheive the look i wanted.   More suede glimmer mist, the mustard'ish color of Gelato, the goldish color of perfect pearls which i mixed with water and used it in the mini mister.

Here's how that turned out.. I used the colors as i wanted.. I love it.

These are the stamps and other products i've used.. 

I used the clear gesso on the cover because i wanted to seal in my techniques.

Here's the cover before i sewed it together.

I had problems with my sewing machine and had to get help from my local friend to adjust my sewing machine.. 

Here's the sewing machine i used.  It's an old one.. I really like it though. It's simple. LOL

Once I sewed my two pages together I put glossy accents on the inside/outside of the book.  Being it's going to be used alot i didn't want the thread to come undone.  If you notice there's two different types of stitching it's because I couldn't figure out which one I wanted to use.

It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to do the closure.  I wanted to use the zutter closures.. But then i really loved how the texture of the grunge paper came out and didn't want to cut anymore off then I already had.  So, i just folded the excess over and made added a buttong and string type to it for closure.  I really love it.  I stamped the excess that was going to be folded over and I'm totally in love with it.

Here's the buttong i used for it.  

Altered Canvases

Ohhhh-kay! I really love altering canvases.  I bought these odd sizes from M's when they were having a huge sale on them - it was crazy - as in 80% off crazy!! I just happened to be at Michael's and happen to walk to the back where the clearances are and saw these! I was floored.  I bought as much as i could.  I so wished i had more money so i could have bought more! LOL 

This particular one was going to be for a RAK, but i decided i love the simplicity of it all and kept it for myself.  I used the following:

Tattered angel fleur de lies stencil

Molding paste

Basic Acrylic paint (black/gold)

5x7 stapled back canvas

Up close

This canvas is 6x12 and i wished there were more of this size.  I really love how it came out.  I can't really remember exactly everything i added to this canvas but I'll list as much as i can remember. 

6x12 stapled back canvas

tattered angel glimmer mist (shades of green)

E6000 glue for the metals

Flowers from swaps & handmade flowers

papers (lol can't remember from which line - i think Prima Printery)

TH ornate plate, metal clock piece

Various buttons

pearls (not really pearls, but i got it from a swap)

Various metal pieces

I Literally created "A-R-T" :)

I finally finished this altered canvas the other nite.  I really love working with stretched canvas.  I bought the 4x5 stretched canvas from Michael's a while back when they went on a crazy sale (80% off).  So far this has been my favorite project thus far.. Now, this happens to be my favorite kind of mixed media. LOL

I used 4x5 stretched canvas, acrylic paints and lots of other goodies such as; Prima flowers and bling, Recollection flowers, Tim Holtz items (grunge alphas, the metal bird, crown and the word stick) handmade flowers from swaps from The Beach as well as handmade stick pins from swaps again from the beach.  I also used Tattered Angel glimmer chips creme de cocoa, Bo Bunny Timepiece paper collections, and Glimmer Chips, other misc items.

*(excuse the mess in the background)*

I made this for Sandra today. Well, i finsihed it. (LOL) I've known how it was going to look in my head but had a hard time executing it. I've went thru several tiles until i finally got it the way i had imagined it to be. :) I hope she likes it. LOL I'll mail it out next week..

TH: "S" Grungeboard, Antique distressed ink
Staz-On black ink
G45 Le Romantique tag
SU Baroque Stamp
Misc: Trim, homemade stick pins, Metal Dragonflies, Brown paint, purple felt
Prima: flowers
Tattered Angels GM: Lovely Lilac(?), green - i don't know the name of it, Scarlet