Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!

How's the new year's resolutions going so far? For me, not so great... but better than most years, I suppose. My #1 resolution is to journal more often (written journal as opposed to blogger journal). While I have been keeping the journal... I've not been keeping it daily, which I'd like to do... but I guess it's probably not too realistic for me... I just don't have the attention span, I guess.

Anyway... here are some photos of what inspired me to begin journaling more... I've altered 3 journal covers -- all three for swaps, and I want to use the books! Here's two of them that I altered...

This first one is an Asian inspired collage... the top is the front, the bottom, the back. I didn't scan the inner covers (which I also altered) because I didn't want to possibly break the binding of the books in the scanner...

I used a pond leaf handmade paper as the base cover... I liked how the pond leaf impressions sort of look like fans, adding to the overall Asain theme.

For the second journal cover, I used a kit that I got from Altered Pages. I don't think she sells these particular kits anymore... but I just loved the colors and the gypsy theme of the collage sheets in the kit, and thought they worked well with the composition book cover.

The colors of the papers included in the kit were so bold and beautiful. I painted a base coat onto the covers using a latex paint I found at my local hardware store, and then added the papers which I tore to give some interest. I added the images & gel medium. On top of the images, I used crackle glaze -- I really liked the effect this created. Then I painted a strip of muslin to cover the spine and used copper tape around the edges. I found an old earring that I used on the end of a piece of ribbon (the ribbon came with the kit) and tied the earring on to it like a bead.

I really enjoyed working on the comp books... Next year, I'll have to secure a bunch of these, alter them and give them out as gifts.

Anyway, that's all for now... thanks for reading along!

~Anne