Altered Notebooks - Christmas Gift Ideas - Part One

Hi crafty friends,

It's Elle here from Empire of the Cat and I am in full-on Christmas making mode this week - Christmas cards, Christmas projects etc and so I have some Christmas gift ideas to share with you and this is only part one!  I actually went into my art room with something totally different planned (Christmas cards) and somehow managed to produce these notebooks instead!

So here we go!  I decided to make some custom notebooks for a Secret Santa exchange that I'm part of and I thought the notebooks were a great idea and easy to post, but a plain black notebook isn't so exciting on its own, unless it's customised of course!

I have quite a few of these ruled notebooks as I also use them for bullet journalling, so I grabbed a couple of them off the shelf and started by painting the covers with black gesso, to give myself a good, primed base.

While that was drying, I sorted through my GSL chipboards and selected a few that I might potentially use, keeping in mind the person for whom they were intended.  I was actually talking to my friend last week about how much she loves fairies, so these Garden Fairies were the perfect choice for her, plus she mentioned a recently purchased mushroom stamp so I thought she might also love this Mushroom Shape set, so I put them both together, with the little seated fairy on top!

 All that was missing was some words to add to the cover, so I pulled out my Tim Holtz alphabet dies and die cut MAKE A WISH using some old cereal box cardboard.  I cut each letter twice and stacked and glued them on top of each other to give them some strength and dimension.

 For the second notebook, I chose this cool GSL Pen and Ink Set for my writing buddy, using both of the quill pens from the set, and die cutting some letters to say TELL YOUR OWN STORY.  I glued it all down and left it to dry.

(I actually ended up making a couple of extra notebooks so I decided to split this into multiple posts, so I have almost hidden the third notebook in the above photo and that will be covered in part 2.) 

So once everything was dry, I painted over all the chipboard pieces and cardboard letters with black gesso.

Then it was time for my favourite part of the process - the painting!  I chose different colours for each of the notebooks and I tried to tailor each one to colours that the recipient liked.  I used a combination of liquid acrylic paints and metallic acrylic paints - pinks and purples for the fairy/mushroom cover and black, brown and golden colours for the quill pen cover.

Then after all the paint was dried I went over everything with Metallique waxes to add highlights and additional colours to each cover.  I use my fingers for this job as they are easier to clean than brushes, though you can use old paintbrushes for this job, or stippling brushes also work quite well.

 Again I worked very organically on this project, adding elements on the fly and then painting them, thinking up words to put on the covers, then die cutting them etc.  If you want a less organic approach, sketch out a plan for your notebook covers, assemble all your elements in advance, and then glue them down and gesso them all at the same time.  But as I started off with the intention of making Christmas cards, I did not have a plan in place for notebooks but was still able to make it work!

I hope you enjoyed this project and that it has given you some gift ideas for reasonably quick and customisable gifts that can be used all year round, but are perfect now for Christmas gifts that can be tailored to the recipient.

Till next time,

Elle xx


PROJECT RECIPE:

GSL Cuts:
Garden Fairies Medium YB4,
Mushroom Shapes D102B,
Pen and Ink Set D72D

Other supplies:
A5 clothbound notebooks
Black gesso
Finnabair Metallique Paints, Liquid Acrylics, Wax
Glue
From Stash: cereal box cardboard 

Dreaming of Snow Days-A H.P. Lovecraft Shrine

On cold winter days I like to snuggle up with a good book or listen to Podcasts. My new favorite is The Vault of Lovecraft read by Mike Bennett. The Shadow Over Innsmouth and the Music of Eric Zann are two of my favorites. If you are unfamiliar with H. P. Lovecraft he is an American Horror Fiction Writer. They are classic ghost stories that transport your mind to the many imagined locals of this tortured soul. He is perhaps most famous for the Call of Cthulu, The Rats in the Walls, At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time. His stories and Mike Bennett Podcasts has me hoping for snow days.

 

1.  Cut out Gypsy Soul Laser Cut Pieces- Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Pen & Ink Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych -Towers Top, Coming Soon Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Foam Stamp Brick Wall and Stone Wall.

 

2.   Cover Wooden Tray with Black Heavy Gesso, you can use a tray that has other small flat decorations on it as it will add additional texture.

3.  Once dry, in a well ventilated area, randomly spray entire tray with Homax Wall Texture.

4.  Once fully dry randomly spray with Tim Holtz Distress Sprays in Brown and Yellow, Tattered Angel  Glimmer Mist-Blue, and Lindy Metallic Sprays-Allow to dry fully. I normally do this outside on a sunny day and cover area with a large trash bag.

 

5.  Use Weldbond to put on a layer of Ultra Thick Black Embossing Enamel and cure with heating tool.

6.  Randomly add Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Embossing Powder and Ice Resin Iced Enamels Chartreuse with Versa Mark and curing with heating tool  until you are pleased with the texture on  outside of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych -Towers Top.

7.  Paint Background of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych -Towers Top with FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Magenta and Autumn Leaves.

8.  Layer H. P. Lovecraft Inkjet images and Transparencies  onto to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych -Towers Top.

9.  Secure with Weldbond and clamp together to dry fully.

10.                Use FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Magenta and Autumn Leaves on GSLC Brick Wall Foam Stamp, randomly stamp onto dried wooden tray.

 

11.                Use FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Tan, Yellow, Brown, Warm White on GSLC Stone Wall Foam Stamp and randomly stamp onto wooden tray.

 

12.                Create a glaze of Deco Art Matte Varnish and Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold to Paint Entire Tray Quickly and Randomly. Repeat with another glaze this time with DecoArt Matte Varnish and DecoArt Medium Gray paint.

13.                Paint GSLC Feather Quell with FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Tan, Yellow, Brown, Warm White for first coat then add  FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Blue and Green.

 

14.                Use Rub-N-Buff Gold Leaf to paint the nib and add additional texture to quell.

15.                Use Texture Acrylic Paints of Brown and Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold to paint GSLC ink wells, Highlight with Rub-N-Buff Gold Leaf and FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of Blue.

 

16.                Cut a small wooden block to add largest GSLC inkwell to for additional dimension on shrine.

17.                Use Script Stamp and Black Permanent Ink on Transparency.  Shade with Alcohol Inks of Tan, Yellow, Blue and Brown.

 

18.                Cut Desired area of transparency and use lit candle to burn/melt edges-Do this in a well ventilated area.

19.                Attach all pieces with Weldbond and Micro Screws and Nails.

20.                Use FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints of magenta and Autumn Leaves and a skull and crossbones to label ink wells.
21.                Drip Red Sealing wax over entire project.

22.                Shrine is completed and can be displayed from both sides.

 

 

 

 

Some final thoughts. Some H. P. Lovecraft Quotes to whet your appetite.
"I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interests me, What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams"
"Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane."
"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places."
"The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind."
"I couldn't live a week without a private library-indeed I'd part with all of my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I'd let go of the 1,500 or so books I possess."

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Pen & Ink Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych -Towers Top, Coming Soon Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Foam Stamp Brick Wall and Stone Wall, Wooden Tray, Black Heavy Gesso, Paintbrush, Homax Wall Texture Spay, Tim Holtz Distress Sprays Shades of brown and yellows, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Blue, Lindy Sprays Metallic, Images of H. P. Lovecraft Inkjet Images and Transparencies, FolkArt Visual Texture Acrylic Paints in Tan, Yellow, Brown, Warm White, Magenta, Autumn Leaves, Blue, Green, Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold,  DecoArt Matte Varnish, DecoArt Medium Gray, Weldbond, Ultra Thick Black Embossing Enamel, Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Embossing Powder, Ice Resin Iced Enamels Chartreuse, Versa Mark, Heating Tool, Rub-N-Buff Gold Leaf, Wooden Block, Script Stamp, Black Archival Ink, Transparency, Alcohol Inks Tan, Yellow, Blue, and Brown, Candle, Lighter, Clamps, Mini Screws and Nails, Hammer, Screwdriver, Red Sealing Wax, Skull and Crossbones Poison Stamp

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!