bonus: noun

an extra unexpected advantage

I've always prided myself on teacher's pet ability, so when I hear bonus ( or extra credit..no wait, extra credit was for when I was failing the class and had to do more work just so my parents didn't thrash me....oops....TMI? ) but anyway, I am Elizabeth's favorite student, even if I have to say so myself! HA! Of course I am just joking around, right? wink wink

We had a lot to accomplish for lesson #4, over at Altered Book Lover, but this was a fun assignment for me as I love playing with glue!

This was #5 on our list:

Find at least one way to use white glue as a major ingredient in a technique for a page you will either add to your AB, or on a page that is already in your AB.

So I wanted to create some bottom of the sea elements, and truthfully this one looks a lot better in my head than it does in the book, but this is about experimenting and playing around. I took my white glue ( Aleenes Tacky Glue ) and 'drew' some fan coral on a piece of parchment and then sprinkled it with glitter. After it dried I put a layer of Ranger's Candy Crackle over it. After that dried, I added the glass beads. Still not happy, I then inked it with green and blue...then I gave up and peeled it from the parchment and glued it down onto the vellum paper...sigh...It's actually very pliable too, I tested to make sure it wasn't going to fall apart and bent it and moved it all about just to be positive.

This was #6 on our list of to do's:

 A spread that includes any type of glue or adhesive will be considered an added bonus

So my first play is by using my hot glue gun to 'draw' squiggly lines to represent coral. You just 'draw' on a wax or parchment paper and then sprinkle with glitter, and then peel them up once they are dry and glue them down ( I used Aleene's Tacky Glue ). And for anyone who like to gold leaf, this is also a great technique, just wait until it cools off and hardens and your gold leaf will stick like a charm! ( I have made Christmas trees in the past using this gold leaf method. )

Also as part of #6, I also used gesso to glue down my vellum to give it a wrinkly under water look. I'll go more into that on another post though, but here is a peek:

And the tag's 'tail' was a lot of fun to create. The mesh is from the super market, the clumps of glitter are hardened Candy Crackle from the inside lid of the jar, loose beads, shells, and the occasional sequin were thrown in too. The aqua beads dangling were from an old necklace of mine, long ago reallocated to the craft junk drawer, basically anything I could find to glue on I did. I have to say this one embellishment totally engrossed me! lol And another glue I want to mention is Helmars 450, that's what I used to hold all these lovely goodies in the mesh. A wonderful glue that acts similar to a hot glue gun but you don't have to worry about burning your fingers! Bonus!

Go get your glue on and have fun, experiment, and create an altered book with us. We love to have you join us!