Altered Composition Notebook, Scrapbook or Journal

"It's a Love Story"

I wanted share a few ways to make your own altered books this summer.  This is the first type that I learned to do so I thought it would be a good idea to start with it first with you too.  This can be used for pictures, a journal or to turn in to a recipe book.  Whatever your heart desires!  This project is very easy, but a little more time consuming than others I have made.  So far, I have only completed a few pages with designs in this particular book, so as I complete more pages then I will try to post. I am trying to take it slow to make sure I absolutely love what I have chosen after spending so much time preparing it.  Each page starts with a blank canvas ready for your own unique creation!

You can see the cover here, (above), and I can show you a side view too:

Look there, it's sitting on top of the Farm Chicks cookbook - another favorite of mine!

As you can see, I have added ribbons inside, as well as to the cover, (I used a grommet to make the holes and tied ribbon through the front and back cover in order to hold it closed.)  I just can't get enough of the ball type fringe - I love love love it!  I painted the cover, but then glued paper and ribbon on the fold of the binding (or spine) so that if the paint happened to wear or crack in the future, then the black tape binding wouldn't be such a harsh contrast with the butter yellow base.  Red, and also a good buttery yellow are two of my favorite colors....and aqua and turquoise and mint and sage...I think I just love colors!

Supplies needed:

Brayer

Liquitex Matte meduim (found cheapest on Amazon.com)

Gesso (use your 50% off coupon at Joannes to pick this up or again, try amazon)

sponge or paint brush

old phone book (you will be tearing out the pages)

Composition notebook (I paid .13 cents for mine at Target)

waxed paper

Let's get started!

1.  Prepare the composition notebook by using the matte medium to glue two or three pages of the ruled paper together. This will make a thicker sturdier page to work with in the final product.  (You choose how many to combine according to how many pages you want to end up in your finished book.)  Paint a thin coat of the matte medium on the bottom page and then press down another sheet on top, smoothing out wrinkles with the brayer.

2.  While you are letting the combined lined paper dry completely, tear large strips of the phone book pages and keep them handy in a bag or box beside you.  Put a piece of wax paper under the page you are working on and brush the matte medium all over the page and lay the strips of paper all over.  I don't suggest using a whole lot of the medium or you will make a soggy mess.  Heavy enough to hold the paper down but not so much that it's dripping all over.  You will also brush a coat of the medium over the top to make sure its saturated and will hold firm. 

3.  Take another piece of wax paper and put it over the top of the page and use the brayer to smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles.  I usually pull the wax paper right back off but you can wait until the page is dry and peel it off also.

The hardest part will be completing only one set of open pages at a time.  You must let them dry in between or all of the moisture will saturate the binding and your pages will rot and tear out later after all of your hard work.  So be patient and let it dry.  (I try to make two books at once since I have to wait anyhow.) Make sure the spine is very dry, then move on to the next set of pages, and repeat the process until the book is completely covered.  

Note:  You do not have to cover the hardcover of the composition notebook with the phone book pages because they are sturdy enough already.

I keep my brush in a ziplock bag since I don't want to wash it out each time I am waiting for a page to dry.  I do this also when I am using the matte medium to "decoupage" the phone book pages to each piece of lined paper.  It makes life easier.

4.  Now that it's completely dried, go back through and paint each page with a nice coat (not too thin) of the gesso.  This will turn your page instantly in to a canvas, (I love this part!).  Paint the front and back cover completely with the gesso also.  The writing on the front and back will disappear with two coats of gesso usually.  

5.  Once this has dried, you are now ready for artwork. I usually paint my pages with scrapbook paint made by making memories.  You can glue, tape, draw and sew just as you would any other kind of scrapbook. I love to sew the edges by using a large pin to poke holes all the way around, and then sewing embroidery thread through each hole.  It's easy and gives it a great look!

Painted over the phone book page with a coat of gesso

painted with making memories scrapbook paint and I sewed the edges with red embroidery thread

Each page feels smooth like un-stretched canvas and is just waiting to for some creative spirit! I love the feel of these pages so much better than paper pages and the paint spreads so nicely. Like I said, my plan is to be working on this album as I have time for most of this summer vacation.  I will share the pages as I go, hopefully they turn out....I am always nervous to start but I am excited to try!

Have fun,