Free tutorial; how to cover a journal with wallpaper samples

I have discovered that it is so easy and it looks so professional to cover an alter book journal or any journal with wallpaper samples. The kind that I am using in this tutorial is a thicker wallpaper that I sell in my etsy store. I thought that it would be helpful to share how I do these covers. I start with the book or the journal that I want to cover.

Here is all that I need to make this cover

Then I cut the wallpaper exactly to the size of the book, leaving a little on the sides in case of mistake.

I cover both sides and the spine with double stick tape

I carefully apply the wallpaper first to the front, then the spine and finally the back of the book

I cut the extra paper off with an exacto knife

Then add the accent photo or embellishments

There you go, it only takes less than a half an hour and the journal or book is covered and you can do whatever you desire to finish off your cover decoration.

I hope this helps. Here are some other journals that I have used this technique to cover.

Mermaid journal

Well, good luck with making your covers with this versatile and easy substrate. Happy creating.

My Mermaid altered book junk journal Sold

I have to admit, I love to create mermaid journals. There is something seductive about the idea of maidens of the sea swimming around just out of reach. They are beautiful and graceful mythical creatures that fill my imagination. So here is another altered book junk journal that I just listed in my etsy store. I just sold it.

Here are some photos of this lovely journal that I have filled with sparkling gemstones and lots of tucks and tags for you to fill in with memories.

page folds out to reveal a tuck spot and a tag

another fold out page

I hope you have enjoyed these photos of my mermaid junk journal. Perhaps they have given you some ideas about how to create your own. It is for sale in my Etsy store. Take care.

1874 vintage Bible pages

I recently came across this 1874 vintage Bible the covers were in tatters but main part of the book was in great shape for a 148 year old book. I use these Bible pages for making my prayer journals and my Books of Hours. I also use them in an altered book journal that I want to make spiritually extra special. Sometimes I use them in my mixed media collages as background material.

But as you can imagine , I have way too many pages for my work so I am offering them in my etsy store in packages of 25 pages. You can scan them and use them over and over again or use them like I do which is add the original pages to my work.

Here are some pages in my Book of Hours journal that I used these pages for background.

Vintage woman photograph; Lost in Time

I have been learning how to make composite photographs in photoshop. This one is called Lost in Time.

It is a composite photograph from a photograph of a turn of the century Russian woman that has an overlay of a textured wall photo applied over it in photoshop. Then I added a sepia filter and text to it.

Love Valentine journal SOLD

I made this Love Valentine journal to celebrate the giving and receiving of love. I thought it might be a delightful gift for a teenage daughter from her mother or father. Of course, it would make a lovely gift for one lover to give to another. You can purchase this journal in my etsy store.

This is an altered vintage book that I have prepared by tearing out excess pages and gluing together pages to make a strong substrate to attach embellishments, fold out pages, handmade envelops and tucks and tags. The cover has a heart and jeweled dangle and a larger heart charm. It has vintage lace and victorian ladies scattered throughout the journal. It ties close with a red ribbon.

I hand make almost everything inside; the envelops, the tags, the tip out pages and two decorated paper clips to hold your place. Every page is a wonderful artistic surprise. There are 17 pages inside.This journal measures, 7.5 x 5.5 inches and is 3 inches thick. I hope you enjoy the photos of it.

Flip up page

Two pocket pages with tags

Secret envelop and letter

Vellum overlay

Thanks for taking the time to look at my work. Remember this journal is for sale in my etsy store.

Medieval woman Book of hours prayer journal Sold out

I am still working on unpacking and organizing my new craft studio but I could not resist making a new journal. It is hard to not create and so here is my new Medieval woman Book of Hours, that can be used as a prayer journal. You can find it for sale in my etsy store;

As you can see I have used an old book and altered the covers and the inside. I love the colors of this cover. I choose royal purple and lavender because most of the Books of Hours used in the middle ages were owned by royalty . The beautiful lady in the gold colored frame has been decorated with Swarovski crystals to make her sparkle. The background is made with a stencil . modeling paste and diamond glitter. I added a copper dangle in the upper right hand corner that has 3 charms.

Normally, it takes about a week to make one of these mixed media journals but this one took longer because it is bigger and more elaborate than I usually make.The pages inside have been removed and the left over pages have been glued together to make a stronger substrate to add embellishments There are about 40 pages in the book with 32 tucks and tags. I have added some handmade envelops with paper inside for a personal note or prayer.

It is filled it with images from famous 14th century French Books of Hours and other medieval paintings. There are lots of blank pages for you to add your own embellishments. and photos. Swarovski crystals are scattered throughout the journal with gold glitter to highlight the images. Vellum cover pages, triple fold outs and double fold outs supplement the interactive aspect of this diary. 

A pull out tag on the top of the right page and a vellum overlay on the left page

This is a triple fold out with a vellum page on the left

Paper door opens up and there is a tuck spot on top

Several tucks in the left side of the page

Pull out tags from 3 sides of this set of pages

The vintage paper on the bottom of the left page is from a 120 year old German bible

As in all of my mixed media journals , this is one of a kind. A perfect gift for that discerning woman of faith.

Free tutorial Altered book art journal

  Here is the process; I start with an old book that I thin out every 3rd page. Then I glue 3 pages of the book together to make a strong base for the art work. I use white gesso to paint every page and let them dry. Finally comes the fun part. I paint each page with metallic  (lumiere paints)and glitter paints making a book with a rainbow of colors.I added a hand made pocket with a tag here.

Then I put pieces of my art work, Graphic 45 paper, envelops, tags, stamps, clips and other items on the inside pages of the altered book. This is one of my handmade tags.

The cover is made by cutting an oval and placing the photo in the inside cover.  The back  cover is also  texturized  ( with glue and tissue paper) , gesso, stained and painted. The gears, the clock and the key are added with gesso.  I touched up with distress inks and gold foil swirls. There are 8 Swarovski AB crystals. I have added a ribbon closure to keep all your art work safely inside. The Image of the Moon Goddess is one of my original metallic photo composites.

Hope you enjoy the photos and the altered book.   I make about one of these a month and sell them when they are done in my Etsy store; https://www.etsy.com/shop/LDphotography

This book was sold right away.

 

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer them.  Happy creating!

Somerset Studio published one of my scrapbook pages

Thank you, Brianne Martin the managing editor of Somerset Studio for including my work in the Winter 2016 Gallery edition of the magazine. I am so honored to be in this wonderful publication. My friend Kim Collister is also in this edition of the Gallery.
Here is my mixed media scrapbook page; Pistol. I made this page to  honor  my Grandmother, Dee.  She was a wild and captivating woman. Born in Mexico around 1900 and then grew up in Calexico. She was a woman who loved life and men. A person who lived a juicy life.

The style was inspired by Finnabair, a Polish artist who does some remarkable mixed media collages.

Retirement equals time to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop elements program for my photographs

I love doing photography and art.  These two combine when you can be creative using a photo editing program like Adobe Photoshop elements . When I was working there was not much extra time to learn and experiment with this program but now…retirement means time! So here is an artistic photo that I created by blending a photo I took here in Popotla fishing village and a textured paper that I had in my photo stash.     Here are the 2 photos I used;  This is the photograph of a boat on the shore.  Not the greatest photo ; over exposed on the top.This is the paper I used to layer over the photo of the boat.  Then I used the Overlay blending tool in the elements program and adjusted the opacity to make  this photograph.This is the result; a subtle but interesting textured photograph.  I love retirement.  Blending layers is the lesson for tonight.

Flip journal tutorial and Going to Mexico and Europe for a year!

The big news , we are retiring and going to Mexico ( for 2 months ) to plan the year vagabonding trip to Europe for a year.  Why just retire?  We are taking a senior gap year.  The year of exploration between working and retirement! We are traveling with only one bag each and a backpack so only minimal art supplies and my art journal.   So my posts here will be more about photography and whatever art presents itself as we travel.  Oh my I am soooo excited.

So here is my last project before starting to pack ( will miss my studio ).  This is a flip up journal with tags.  I saw one somewhere and I thought it would be a good last project. It turned out to be pretty easy to do and I think it looks good.  I cut out the cover and tag pages from heavy card stock and then made plain card stock pages and Graphic 45 paper pages. The cover is made from Spellbinders die cuts and they are painted with metallic paints.  There are lots of pockets and tags made from scrap papers.  The book rings open to rearrange or add pages to the journal.  And I hung a black key on the cover with Swarvorki crystals ( they are my signature item that I use on all of my art work).  Enjoy!  Oh If you want to follow along on our adventures and how we are doing it ; my blog is seniorgapyear.wordpress.com ( follow) because there will only be posts occasionally before Europe and that is in April.