Altered Art book...the first of many

I've been wanting to create an altered art book for

many months now but just hadnt found the inspiration or maybe the muse to create one. So today Candy and I decided to create our first book together, it was a really fun project and is not totally complete but I was so excited that I had to share the progress :) First was the base coat of gesso to get the book paintable... then on top of that we painted the entire cover burnt umber w/ acrylic paint. Candy had this brilliant background paper that I just love that we decided to use as well and so that was cut and attached to the cover as well. This is actually Candy's book so she wanted to have a picture frame type cover for the book. So carefully she cut the center square out with an xacto knife and several pages as well. These pages were glued together to make a thicker, sort of shadow box effect. The white in the center is just a card we inserted so that you get the gist of how it will look w/ an actual picture. We then pulled out the pasta machine and clays... I created the 'faux hinges' out of black clay using an xacto knife. Those had to bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. once they were finished they washed with an antique bronze acrylic paint and then attached to the front cover. We both love tags so Candy attached ribbon to the inside of the front cover and pulled it around the outside, added some colored beads and I created the take using a page from the book, and some excess background papers, and a vellum butterfly sticker (its actually embossed with a light clear glitter but the photo doesnt show that detail well.) I then stamped the date the book began on the opposite side of the tag and attached it with the beaded ribbon. :) The final step for the night was actually making the faux picture frame for the center cut out.... Its made from----- drum roll please------ tin foil! I traced teh shape of the cut out and cut a larger outline of it in the tin foil. Then I crumbled the cut out. I took my burt umber and painted a base coat then washed an antique bronze once it was dry. Lastly I dry brushed sections with black. Once it was totally dry I coated it in a light coat of tacky glue for protection and let it dry once more. Then attached it to the center cut out. WHA-LAH :) The center picture still needs to be added *its yet to be decided* and then also the back of the book needs to be decorated but like I said I was way to excited to wait on that! :) *BIG smiles* Now I am anxious to get started on my own altered book, its going to be loads of fun, I already have a theme picked out and everything! Have a great night! Keep creating! <3