Book of Spells Art Journal Cover - Upcycled Diary

Hi crafty friends!

It's Elle from Empire of the Cat again!

So this week I thought I would share this upcycled diary project.  Unfortunately I can't seem to locate the "before" photo of the diary but I can give you a little history of it.

Back in 2008 I went looking for an Academic Year diary and as it was September I was a little late and everything was sold out, but in one shop they said they had one in the store room, and then produced this huge desk diary which was not at all what I had in mind but I needed one and it was on sale so I bought it.  But of course, you know I never used it because it was HUGE and it wasn't practical to carry around.  So it sat around the house for a few years and every time we had a clear out I almost got rid of it but then I felt like it was such a waste to just throw it out.  It was useless as a diary since it was years out of date, but all that paper could definitely be put to good use...

Update:  I found the photo I was looking for of the diary before it was altered!  So here it is...

 Anyway, fast forward to this year, 11 years later lol, and I had this idea that I could use it as an art journal, and although the paper is quite thin, I could gesso it and it would work, so that's what I did. I still had no idea what I wanted to do with the outside to make it look better, since it was just a large silver-coloured hardcover diary, that after all these years, was a little scuffed and battered, and of
course said 2008 on the cover!

 If in doubt - cover it in black gesso!

 So I did, but I seem to have mislaid the photo!  If I find it, I will upload it later.  It sat in my art room for a couple of months while I tried to think about how I wanted it to look and then I had an idea.  I had a lot of bits and pieces on my table as I was working on Halloween projects but some of it reminded me of a book series that I read and is now TV show - A Discovery of Witches - and so I decided to make myself a Book of Spells!

So as you can see, I used multiple chipboard elements for my cover!  A full list with links is at the end of the post, but I used the decorative tags, the spiderweb shapes, the creepy critters set and the book of spells title. I played around with the placement of these till I was happy with it and then I glued them down - don't forget to pop out all the little extra bits from the spiderwebs first!

Now normally I would suggest gluing everything down before covering everything in black gesso, but I had already gessoed the diary and actually doing it first ensures that you have a totally black base in case you can't quite get into those little spiderweb spaces. But it was very much a design on the fly kind of project and I was making changes along the way as you will see later, when I made another one!

As there were multiple levels of chipboard involved, I made sure to use plenty of adhesive and to hold everything in place with blocks and heavy weights until it was completely dry.

Then I painted over everything with more black gesso. It was at this point that I decided that something was missing from my background, so I decided to add some stenciling with paper texture paste, around the edges of the front cover and a full panel on the back cover.

 And of course, once it was dry, covered all of it with, you guessed it, more black gesso :)

And then it was time to get started on the fun stuff - the painting!  I decided to use some Metallique paints and started with this great yellow-green colour.

But then I realised I wanted to add something else before I went any further.  I wanted to add something to the spine and cut out some letters from this Bigz die and some old cereal packets.

  Then I remembered I had more die cut letters leftover from other projects...

Since this was going to be my art journal, I added "Art Book" to the spine and then I used the rest of the assorted letters and added them randomly to the back and front covers (although if you have read the books/seen the show there is a secret message in there!)  I was also toying with the idea of adding the creepy eyes to the OO in BOOK but decided against it in the end, but you can see them in the above photo.

Then I painted all the letters with black gesso and then painted them with the same Metallique paints to match the background. When all the paint was dry, I started working this Old Silver Metallique wax into the letters and the book spine using my fingers.

Also using my fingers, I rubbed some Burnt Sienna fluid acrylics into the book cover, also applying it with a damp sponge in some areas.

Then I changed to Peacock and Firebird waxes and continued the process of applying them to the covers, especially highlighting the letters and numbers and the book title and decoration on the front cover.

I prefer to use my fingers for this as it can be quite hard to clean off brushes and pretty easy to clean off your fingers!  It also smells very nice - a bit like furniture polish!

 Here's a close up of how the letters looked after all the waxes were applied.

The finished back cover.

The finished front cover!  

I do feel that I need to mention that creating this project was very much an organic process with a lot of decision-making done on the fly.  If you want a less organic approach, plan everything you want to put on your book in advance, and glue it all down before applying gesso to it.  That way the process will be much simpler, quicker and will require much fewer coatings of gesso!

Hope you enjoyed this project and that you will try out a version of it yourself.

Till next time,

Elle
Empire of the Cat



PROJECT RECIPE:

GSL Cuts - Decorative Tags Large - D92B , Title Book of Spells,- D94P,  Spiderweb Shape Set - D156B, Creepy Critters - C40F
Black gesso
Finnabair stencil, paper texture paste, Metallique Paints, Liquid Acrylics, Wax
From stash:  leftover Tim Holtz/Sizzix alphabet diecuts from various sets, glue, 

Dream Catcher Art Journal Page

Hi everyone, and welcome! Today I want to share another art journal page using the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Dreamcatcher 2 chipboard set.  When I think of dreams, I seem to think in vivid color and lots of sparkly stuff.  So, naturally, I decided to share my gold foiling technique that I used on both my background and on the chipboard.  And as for the glitter, I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking, "Oh no, not glitter.  I will have that stuff everywhere1!"  Well, I have another technique to share that will keep  you from wearing your glitter, or in this case, sparkly mica, for the next week.  So, scroll on down and check out the step-by-step tutorial to see how!

Cover both pages with an uneven coat of white gesso using a silicone spatula, leaving some space uncovered.  Let gesso dry.

Brush  Deep Waters metallic paint over background.  Spritz with water to thin and spread paint.  Before paint dries, remove excess with damp baby wipe.

(NOTE:  You can see how dark the paint is where the page has no gesso because it sucked the paint right into its fibers.)

Use baby wipe to pick up the Deep Waters and dab the paint through the Well Rounded stencil to add texture to the background.  You can remove some of the stenciling before the paint dries for a more muted and grungy look.  Dry well.

Do the same thing with Coral-Teal Opal Magic paint through another section of the same stencil.

I used a foam blending tool to stencil the Emerald Green Metallique paint through a different part of the stencil.

I used the Steampunk Copper Metallic paint with a foam blending tool to dab the color onto the words and dream catcher.  Using a dabbing motion adds texture to the chipboard and even gives the slight appearance of hammered metal. 

For a bit of color variation on the feathers, I dabbed the Emerald Green lightly over them.

I used the Tomboy mono adhesive (white) glue to adhere splotches of the gold foil.  This is not gold leafing.  Gold foil is applied to a clear carrier sheet, and when it touches sticky glue, the gold comes off and leaves the carrier sheet.  I used a cheap brush to apply random splotches to my background and let the glue dry.  This particular glue is perfect for this application because it drys sticky.

I used the same technique to apply the glue to my dreamcatcher.  You can see the gold is coming off the clear carrier sheet, but you can continue using it until there is nothing left on the sheet.

I also added some of the gold foil to the top of the dreamcatcher, using a new piece of the sheet for better coverage.

Next, I adhered all of my chipboard pieces to my art journal pages, as shown.  I let these dry well before continuing so I wouldn't accidentally move them around.  Then I took the journal outside to give it a good spray with a clear gloss acrylic coating.  This covered any of the sticky glue that may not have been covered with the foil, and protects the pages, as well.

Now for the addition of glitter.  I prefer to mix my glitter in a puddle of clear drying glue.  I am using Mica Delights, which is actually mica particles that resemble glitter and are about the same size.  I mixed copper and gold together for a more antiqued look.

I then picked up small blobs of the glue mixture and carefully dropped it into the openings in each feather.

Before the glue mixture dried, I picked up the tiniest amount of the sapphire mica and sprinkled gently over the glue sections.  I wanted just a hint of the blue.  I also glued dew drops to the dreamcatcher and feathers, as well as a few more colorful ones randomly on the page.

Here is a closer look at the dried glue inside the feathers.

And here are closer pictures of the two pages.

Although I added  Simple Feathers in my supply list below, I would have used them if I had been working in a bigger art journal.  My words were large enough to fill up the pages, but I wanted to point them out in case you work in a larger size and can't think of what to add to your project to make it all come together.  

Supplies Used:

GSL Dreamcatcher 2

GSL 10 Words

GSL Simple Feathers (not used on this journal page)

TCW 384s Mini Well Rounded stencil

Dina Wakley white gesso

Prima Art Alchemy acrylic paints

  Deep Waters Metallique

  Emerald Green Metallique

  Steampunk Copper Metallique

  Coral-Teal Opal Magic

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue 

Paper Studio Clear Glue Pen

US Art Quest Mica Delights

  Gold

  Copper

  Sapphire

Robin's Nest Dew Drops

  Light Vanilla

  Multi colors

Rub-On Foiling Paper

Silicone spatula

Assorted brushes

Paper piercer tool or tooth pick
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer (Hobby Lobby)

I love how this turned out.  I know I may sound like a broken record when I say that chipboard is fabulous to use for dimension without all the bulk, and it is a perfect addition to art journals, as well as many other uses.

I hope I've inspired you to make something with laser cut chipboard and share what you make!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Barbara xo