Chic Jotter Altered Book

Hey folks. Sorry for the long pause. I've been busy finishing some very special watercolor paintings of my favorite singer, Josh Groban and his cute dog Sweeney!. Sweeney's 5th birthday is coming up in July, so i decided to send them the paintings as a birthday gift. I may show some sneak peek of them later :)

Ok, one of my May DT project for Scrappingville is completed. Yay!. It's another altered book project to celebrate my love for flea marketing!. So I made a funky notebook, called it 'Chic Jotter' to take some notes, ideas or jotting down important contacts & date related to my junking hunt. Here is how it looks;

I got this gorgeous old book from an antique store at Publika, Dutamas Solaris. I like the romantic front cover, it'll be a shame to cover it up with gesso. This is a very much boho-girl jotter. I decoupaged some roses & stamped flower motif on the cover. I got carried away and added plastic flowers to the spine and some brass metal strings as handle. Carry it along to the flea market like a little tote!.

Essentially, this is a simple notebook to make. I have used brown paper bags as the main pages. Some of them were left bare while others pasted with black & white pattern papers. I also glued a variety of lace ribbons along the edge of each page. Front page from the beautiful original old book cover. Lastly, used 1" copper binder from Zutter (Bind-It-All)to hold all them together. 

Inside, I have added pockets and little enclosures to keep little notes or tags. Some are blank pages to add lists of many fun things to jot. LOL. Movies to watch after, or places to go eat and chatting over new found treasures.  A cool reminder of the essential tools for junk hunt. I'm a gypsy at heart. Embracing my love for tattered old items and make art to my heart's content. So I think, this quote is just perfect for me.

I will be teaching this class @ Scrappingville in May. Come join in the fun making this book and lots of laugh to be sure.

Have a good Monday everyone!. Happy creating.

XO,

shahrul 

Products used:

* P.Paper: 7 gypsies Lille Paper (Life Is Good & Picadilly), Far Flung Craft (Chinese New Year), Crate Paper (Portrait Collection), Echo Paper Co. (For The Record) & Pink Paislee (Junque).

* Echo Paper Co. stickers (For The Record).

* 7 Gypsies loops & hooks.

* 7 Gypsies book belt.

* 7 Gypsies Autocollants (Collections From The Journey & Document).

* Glitz Teeny Alpha.

Your Favorite Vintage Style - Frilly & Funkie Kick Off Challenge

Hi there. First of all, congrats to Frilly & Funkie for its kick off challenge. I have been waiting to play along in this challenge for days. It is called "Your Favorite Vintage Style". I was blown away by the teams' vintage creations. Just take a peek here for inspiration. So, I decided that I would stayed up late last night ... maybe cook up something special. First thing this morning (after my cats are happily fed) I started blogging :)). 


So, the question is ... what is My Favorite Vintage Style?. My art work is still evolving. I'm at the point of trying out different things. Most of all, I love to alter things old or new and turning them into objects of beauty & artsy. I love earthy and warm colors, frillies & vintage papers. Sometimes I add little surprises and playfulness in my work :), just for fun.

This is an altered book that I managed to create late last night. It's the cutest old book (4" X 6") that I found at a flea market. I re-styled it to be an inspiration booklet I could hang on the wall or when closed, it became a little purse!.

I used an old bracelet as the handle and a butterfly pendant as the lock. The booklet is actually quite tiny and skinny too (camera cap for scale). When opened, it shouts "DREAM"!. Bet it'll inspire me to create. I used only the cover of the old book and discarded the pages. Added a small box as the 'body' of my booklet-purse. Then, embellished with laces and pattern papers. I used two littlest canvases I could find and filled them with my favorite little things. And lastly, a pencil symbolizes my love for sketching & painting. 


So, that was it. A tiny toy for Frilly & Funkie first challenge. Till the next project, happy creating.


XO,
Shahrul  

'Bohemian Rhapsody' Altered Book

Hello everyone. Recently, I had a chance to work with Collection Elements chip boards, metals and the many neutral colored pattern papers for my latest DT projects. As you know, I LOVE flea market finds!. So excited that I'd be making two different mixed-media projects for April's classes. 
This is one of the completed project. I called it 'heavy-metal' NOT because of rock-and-roll, but because the book is kind of heavy with all the metals & flea market finds that I used.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' is my fav song. 

So, what is it?. In a nutshell, it is a humble old book (found at a flea market) which was altered & re-styled into a grungy & artsy journal of some sort. I used as many metal charms & found objects as I like, to decorate the book's cover (but it's totally optional). Inside, I created four pages that featured my favorite quotes from magazines, inspirational words or simply a phrase to ponder. 'Rhapsody' means a piece of music which has an irregular form and full of feeling. So, the title fits the nature of this project perfectly.

I discarded the original pages of the old book (because they were friable), and painted the cover first with black gesso then cream acrylic paint. I added angel wings to both front & back covers using stencil & texture paint. I LOVE the rough edges on the covers.
I glued a key to the key-hole, for fun. Now anyone can enter, NOT just Alice. Dangling metal charms tied up on string, later attached to the spine. Front felt gate with a charm that says 'loving life'.

Two little chipboard pages held by staples (with pearl charms, no less) add interest to this altered book. And how cool to have your own wishing well in mini albums?. Wishing well basically made out of pattern paper envelope, to keep my prayers.

So, that was it. I had a blast making it. Just can't wait to teach this book in April. Do check out also our March classes schedule & prices @ Scrappingville website. Stay tune for my next mini album project. Happy Tuesday.

XO,
Shahrul


Materials used; 
*Pattern Papers: October Afternoon, Basic Grey, 7 Gypsies, Prima Marketing, Making Memories
*Transparency: Hambly Screen Prints Potrait Gallery
*Felt Gate & Flowers: Prima Marketing
*Art-To-Borrow Pictures: Stampington & Company
*Keys & Lock, baubles, game arrows: Tim Holtz
*Chipboard windows: Collection Elements

Altered Book

I collect old hard-covered books from flea markets. I look for the ones with great color & design on the cover and sturdy. It's important if I want to “alter” them later. "Alter" means, you creatively recycle them into something new like children storybook, etc. I got excited and attached a door handle to the book’s cover. When I open the book, I can almost imagine myself as Alice, stepping into Wonderland ...

I bought a book called The Artful Storybook. I got inspired from L.K Ludwig's work (famous mixed-media artist). In the book she wrote “The Magpie & the Princess” with storyline about a princess hidden in a forest who 

befriended a robin which later leads into marrying a prince charming. 

So I said quietly, maybe I like to use her story and try alter an old book. Fortunately, about the same time the whole world was watching Prince William marrying Kate Middleton. So, that’s great .. he WILL be my prince and Kate is definitely the princess!. 

So here is my take ...

"Once upon a time, there was a robin lived in a faraway forest."

" In the forest, there was a princess sadly locked away in a tower high up on the hills. Her tears turned into diamonds as they fell. They were collected by the robin."

" The robin made them into a bracelet and took it to a brave prince. Friendship blossomed and the prince rescued the princess." 

(Here comes William! Aaawww ....)

" They all lived happily ever after. And the robin is their life-long friend. The END." 

Thank you L.K Ludwig!. I enjoyed your story as much as I enjoyed making the collage work.

XO,

Shahrul