Altered Book Group

I joined an Altered Book group this year with 5 other ladies as I wanted to expand my artist skills from just scrapbooking and creating ATCs. The Group gets together once every 2 months and the first meet was on 17th January, but as I was up on the Sunshine Coast with my husband and mother-in-law was unable to get to the first meet.

The Guidelines for the Altered Book are that it has a single theme "IMAGINE", which we can interpret however we wish, and we are to have used all of the listed techniques by the end of the project / year. The 12 techniques everyone came up with are: ** Transparency ** Beeswax ** Pop-Up ** Alcohol Inks ** Tea Bags ** Textured Cuttlebug ** Fabric ** Texture Paste ** Serviette ** Peeled Paper ** Crackle ** Credit Card Technique.

I have to admit, I've been feeling a little nervous about the whole thing and didn't really know where to start as this is my very first Altered Book, but as I am one to follow through on commitments I make to others, I decided to "just do it" today and see where it leads me.

So here is my first double page spread ... I decided to use a "Serviette" as the background and have painted the images with "Crackle" medium, which seemed like the easiest techniques to start with ... so that means I'm 2 techniques down and only have 10 to go!!! The background is sprayed with Bronze and Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mists and then Spanish Copper Rub 'n' Buff was added around the edges. The words were printed on my computer and also sprayed with the same Glimmer Mists so that they would tie in. I drew around the edge of everything with Stampin' Up's Ruby Red Marker to add some definition.

I added a tab on the edge of the page (first time I used this punch from Stampin' Up), which will contain a little tag with the techniques used on that particlar page, so that I can remember in the future. I may add some embellishments to the layout and will have a think about this over the next few days ... maybe some gems ... mmmm, maybe it doesn't need anything else ... mmmm, not sure yet.

I was thinking that the book's cover page will have the words "IMAGINE ..." on it and then every layout I do will lead into a quote or statement. So the first one is "Imagine ... that a true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection!" ... a quote by Michelangelo who's painted hands from the Sistine Chapel happen to appear in the centre of my layout.

My only hope is that (a) the pages don't stick together and (b) that the crackle paint doesn't flake off due to the book being handled or the pages rubbing together ... I did consider using a sealer over the whole thing, but thought I may lose all the shimmer from the glimmer mists so may have to wait until I get together with the group before I progress.

If any of you have any tips that you have learned through doing an altered board book ... feel free to leave me a comment and share ... I'm open to all suggestions.

"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself."
~Leonardo da Vinci~