Collect Happiness ~ Altered book pages

Hi all, it's Bonnie Irvine here today. Way back in February, the theme of the Get Altered challenge was books. At that time, I altered the front cover of a child's board book and have continued with the process of completing the rest of the pages. Today I'm excited to share the fifth and final double page spread in that same "Take Flight" altered book. All that remains is to complete the back cover, and this little baby is done like dinner :) I started out with the gessoed page having a bit of extra texture. Somehow, some kraft cardstock got stuck to the still wet gesso and when I tore it off, it left chunks behind. Rather than sand it off, I decided to embrace it and even expand upon it. I added some pieces of narrow washi tape and some drywall mesh tape to the background and gessoed over them. 

Next I took blobs of Fresco Finish paint in Mermaid, Beach Hut, and Baltic Blue and scraped the paint across the background with an old gift card, leaving it thicker in some places and very thin in others. To darken the edges and a few places in the middle, Blueberry and Cotton Candy gelatos were rubbed on and spread with water on my finger. Extra Blueberry was rubbed over the mesh tape and a brush was used to help work it inside the squares. I haven't bought the green gelatos yet (I will because I love gelatos!) so I sponged a little Avocado and Hey Pesto Fresco paint on the pages and then topped that up with Neocolor II crayons in order to bring the green tones I wanted into the background.

White Studio 490 Embossing paste was applied through a  The Crafter's Workshop harlequin stencil and once dry was shaded on the left side with a charcoal pencil using a blending stump to soften it.

The flowers were fussy cut (and I mean fussy) from Tim Coffey paper from K & Company and adhered to the background with gel medium. The petals were roughly doodled around with a Sepia Micron pen to lend more of a sketchy, hand drawn feel to them. Brown Big Brush pen was smudged on the flowers for shading. Tiny beads were glued to the centers with Glossy Accents and Icicle Glimmer Glaze was painted over the centers for shine.

The bees are Little Yellow Bicycle stickers coloured with Distress markers: Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Black Soot, and a Gray Copic on the wings. A tiny dash of white paint pen highlighted the centers of their bodies.

Memento Bamboo ink was applied to the background randomly using a stamp from Paper Artsy JOFY 10 to make the crosshatched lines. White gesso was pounced through TCW's Mini Chevron Arrows stencil. Once dry, Pan Pastel and Distress marker altered the colour of the arrows before they were outlined.

The Idea-ology lettering for Collect Happiness (like bees collect pollen) was adhered over the flowers spanning the two pages to better connect them. Black Embossing paste also from Wendy Vecchi was spread through the Dylusions Letter Jumble stamp to spread the black around the page causing the eye to travel and take more in. Two fishtail banners were cut from beehive printed ribbon and adhered to the top of the left page. Vintage buttons (love how checked the smaller one has become over the years) were adhered over the ribbon.

At this point, I always leave the project where I can see it often and live with it for a while to determine if it's complete. I ended up going back and adding black cardstock semi-circles to the top right and bottom left corner again to move the eye through the piece and to add greater weight to the outside. Black Big Brush pen was added to the outside edge to darken the framing.

This book altering has been such fun that I'll have to start looking for another board book so I can play again. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading this marathon post. I so appreciate that. If you are interested in more detail about some of the products  I used, just click on the thumbnails below and you will arrive at the correct spot in the eP store. Hope you get a chance to get messy today!

Bonnie

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Blue Colors	Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 - Embossing Paste - White	Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 - Embossing Paste - Black	Fabel Castell - Gel Medium
Inkssesentials - Glossy Accents 2 oz.	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Wild Honey	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Scattered Straw	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Black Soot	TCW 6x6 Template - Chevron Arrows
TCW 6x6 Template - Harlequin	Dylusions Stencil 5x8" - Number Jumble	Idea-ology - Alpha Parts Signmaker