The Bee's knees ~ Altered book cover

Hello ePers. It's Bonnie here today. I had finished the inside spreads in my bee-themed altered child's board book a few weeks ago but hadn't found the time to alter the front and back covers to complete the project. I made up my mind to make the time this week. I already have my ideas percolating for the next board book or two so I wanted to finish this one.

I started by tearing up pages from an old thrift store book with French text. The pieces were random in size and shape and I layered them onto the covers using Matte Medium and overlapping until the entire surface was covered. Once dry the text papers were sprayed with three Art Anthology colours: Glorious, Paprika, and Timeless. The book was tipped at different angles so that drips and runs occurred. Butterscotch, Butter Cream, and lemon gelatos were scuffed onto the covers and spread with a finger. The butterscotch was used around the edges. Walnut Brown Big Brush pen was also used on the edges to frame the covers.

Jet Black Archival ink was sponged through TCW's Mini Reversed Chicken Wire stencil onto the now coloured text. White gesso was pounced through TCW's Well Rounded stencil and picked up some of the colours of the sprays softening the effect. More of the Paprika spray was spritzed through TCW's Mini Punchinella stencil and then it was flipped over to get the reverse imprint.

Stampotique's medium and tiny bees were stamped onto white cardstock and the yellow was coloured in with Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress markers before the bees were fussy cut...yes even those tiny ones :)

The bee skep and honey label were printed from my computer files and the skep was matted in brown cardstock to allow it to show up and have greater visual weight. Scraps of striped paper were cut into fishtail flags and matted with the same brown before being adhered to the covers with Scor tape. Bits of diamond and scalloped borders were added to both pages and doodled on with white gel pen.

The lettering is a mix of Ransom Alpha Parts, Alpha Tiles, and small black sticker letters. Again, white dots were added for detail and to make them more noticeable. The quote comes from TH Classics 16 stamp set. A few of the Remnant Rubs Elements images were added to the piece: the crown on the bee at the bottom, the pointing hand and word fly, and the pen nib. White circles were punched from cardstock, inked with Black Soot Distress ink, and scattered around the pages. A spiral stamp was added to a few and they were outlined with both a Stabilo graphite pencil and black pen. Other elements were shaded in the same way to create depth.

To embed some of the collage pieces into the background and create more layers, black gesso was stamped in rings onto the covers using a bottle top, White gesso was again used to add more texture and embed pieces when it was pounced through TCW's Mini Punchinella stencil. By stencilling on both the background and the collage elements in the same area, it joins them into one layer and gives you less of a "stuck-on" look to your mixed media art.

The final two details were to add the bee charm beside the word Bee's and to add the washi tape to the spine using additional glue.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I'm happy to have completed my bee book and to have had you here to share the experience. Until next time, take care and I do hope you make time to get messy and play. Remember, a new ePlay challenge has started...Wood.

Bonnie

Here are links to the eP store for some of the products I used:

Tim Holtz Distress MarkersSet of 37 with ContainerGifts with purchase	Art Anthology - Coloration Color Spray - Paprika	Art Anthology - Coloration Color Spray - Glorious	Art Anthology - Coloration Color Spray - Timeless
Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) Classics 16	Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Yellow Colors	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Neutral Colors
Faber Castell - Big Brush Pens - Neutral	TCW 6x6 Template - Mini Chicken Wire Reversed	TCW - 6x6 Well Rounded Stencil	Scor Tape -1/4"wide x 27 yds long (double sided)
Findings - Alpha Parts, Ransom	Idea-ology - Remnant Rubs - Elements	Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot	Stabilo All Pencil - Graphite
Liquitex Acrylic Gesso	Claudine Hellmuth Studio - Black Gesso	Uni-Ball White Gel Pen	Archival Ink - Jet Black Ink Pad