Hollow Book Projects Part 2

Good morning!  I'm back to share my other completed hollow book and share a "near miss" for the next one...

 

Above you can see the front of the finished product.  For this book I used the Scraps of Elegance kit Sweet Sentiments and the supplemented with a host of elements that had been sitting on my desk for a few months hot minutes.   First of all, let me say that the Blue Fern Studios papers included in this kit are by far some of the best papers I have ever used in my entire life!  From the moment I touched them, I knew they were magical...but this isn't about BFS, it's about me...me and my hollow book!  :)  This is the first time I've used Renea's technique of covering the book in gesso.  I have to admit that even though I covered the "back" of the book in paper, I enjoyed not having to deal with the ugly brown color that these mache books come in.  I layered quite a bit of paper on the top of the book (including the "binding") and then experimented with some of the pigments that came in the creativity add on with the SOE kit.  I used the pale green color to paint over the binding and sealed with a glossy sealer.  

Here is a close up of some of the flowers.  A few from the kit, and although I didn't get the floral add on, I already had some of the flowers (pink with crocheted petals) included in the floral add on hanging out in the flower box next to my scrapping table.  The blue and white flowers were intended for a winter themed tag, but as you can see, the blue turned out to be way too warm for the winter color scheme of the tags.  However, they turned out great for this project.  You can see the chipboard here as well.  I used some wiry string from a past Scraps of Darkness kit and wound it around the chipboard.  I was going for a "climbing ivy" look, but I think it still needs a little work.  

 

I had to take a close up of this pretty little lady from one of the papers.  The first thing my husband said when he saw the finished project was that I "covered her up", but I informed him that she was just peeking around the corner.  Again, I cannot say enough about these great papers from Blue Fern.  The resin corner was another trinket that had been sitting on my desk for goodness knows how long...I was going to use it on a summer project if that tells you anything.  Also in this picture you can see the distressing and inking combo I used on the papers.  I enjoyed using some colors to ink the edges of the papers that I don't normally use such as yellows and pinks in addition to the normal browns and neutral.

 

And, finally, the pièce de résistance:  the "pages"...Each time I do this I get one step closer to the actual look I am going for.  This time I went for much lighter pages and LOVED the outcome!!!  Notice the scraps of cheesecloth that I colored some pink pigment from the kit add on.  I also used the rest of the paint I mixed up to make some pink splotches at various places around the book.  

 

Now for the near miss!  I started working on another hollow book this weekend using a technique I've seen several times.  (I can't remember where I first saw, so I apologize for not giving anyone credit!) I used gesso and cheesecloth to make a poor man's canvas on the back of the book.  I had hoped to stamp an image into it, but apparently, poor man's canvas does not take to stamping very well.  Either way, coming soon there will be another hollow book to share with you all!  Thanks for looking and having an excellent Monday!

 

Love,

mel