Thursday, March 8, 2012

patience: noun

capacity for waiting ( not something I possess )

Well the above statement pretty much sums me up when it comes to crafting. Elizabeth says it's hurry up and wait....hmmmm Hard for me to do, hard to do! But she is correct, there is a lot of waiting.
Anyway so I almost hate for Elizabeth or any true AB peeps to read this post, so I am just going to tell the truth and the let the paper fly! lol And please do go over to her site ,Altered Book Lover and follow her directions to do it correctly...I'm just impatient and cheap...I do not recommend doing it my way.

First thing to admit is that I didn't have the gel medium but as I was creating my sand dollar I kept thinking that the embossing paste was kinda gel like....hmmm....but first let me tell you about the sand dollar.
.
I used a brass embossing template, spread the embossing paste on, when it dried I used my brown ink pad over it. It now feels almost like leather! I then strung the brass word dream onto the sand dollar which I slid into a slit in the beige material. The material was an after thought as I was trying to find something suitable to strengthen those front pages. I also glued suede strips as seaweed. And as a side note, I love liquid glue, and have used liquid glue all through my steps. It does mean waiting in between steps but I'm addicted to the stuff.
Now the niche...it was truly a pain in the you know what, and here is another confession: I do not have any clamps. So I used the heaviest thing I knew of to weight it down while drying: my Big Shot!
So I covered the longest side first with the embossing medium and weighted it down with my Big Shot, I also used cooking parchment paper as I didn't have any wax paper in the house, but that worked very well. Then when it dried I alternated the other sides, again weighing it down as I went along. The embossing paste did very well, it sealed the pages, gave them a smooth finished and filled into gaps on the inside cuts. I was stoked....err...pleased.  ( I did do a little bit of sanding just to get my corners better but I did know I would be using tissue paper over everything so a lot could be forgiven using that medium.) I pop dotted my glass dolphin and painted the sides to the pop dot with blue paint so it wouldn't be seen.  For the tissue paper, I laid a thick layer of glue down, crumpled the tissue paper and  laid it over the book, and then gently patted it down with my finger. Twisting or pinching the tissue together as needed. Now the glue feels damp through the paper and at this time I applied my powdered Jewelz.
You apply this iridescent powder with a brush only using very small amounts by swirling and brushing it into the paper. It needs the tacky-ness to stick. This is also a good time to check your paper for any lifting edges and making sure everything is laid down tight. (I am sorry this picture is not very focused! ) I am a wee bit tired after visiting a billion blogs today on WOYWW and also working inbetween on a submission for Cricut Magazine. My head hurts from all the eye strain!
One of my favorite parts of the niche are the sea shells I used from a necklace I had since going to Hawaii. I also added the brass starfish and a pearl, There is seaweed over on the right hand side but you can't see it too well in the picture. I added some glass beads to the paper for just fun! I also enjoy making the front title and the last title of the book go together...I dream of the sea...and the sea dreams of me.
So I didn't follow all the directions, I veered from them, but that's me, lol The paper renegade!
hee hee
:P
Oh, I never officially stated my theme, but I think everyone knows, lol
MERMAIDS

14 comments:

Mary Pat Siehl said...

oh this is just so cute--love all the sea shells!

Laura S Reading said...

I love your can do and make do attitude. Remember the first rule (told to us as the second rule) is that there are no rules.
Had to even laugh when Elizabeth said she "broke" a rule.
Your book is coming along very well and your creative touches are splendid.

Princess Judy Palmer said...

Your AB is quite stunning! You've put a lot of thought and work into it-very impressive and I'm for improvising. I love the niche and the sea theme!

Unknown said...

cool stuff !
Love the sand dollar

-KAT-

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I'm impressed with your glue. It just goes to show that four people in a room, asked what the best glue is, will give you four different answers. I will stay with gel medium, but I know your niche certainly didn't suffer from neglect.

That sand dollar is gorgeous and OVER the top beautiful. Very impressive. Of course, I like the "under the sea" feel I got from the niche, too. Thanks beyond belief for sharing this update.

Karen said...

Love your AB, it is stunning, I especially love the shells :)

Ann B said...

Clever use of the Big Shot - bet they don't advertise the fact it can be used as a weight as well as a cutting machine. I was making some roses with Tim Holtz pinecone die yesterday and used the metal die to weigh down the glued roses.
Beautiful sand dollar and I love your AB

Craftychris said...

Love it! xx

SueH said...

Hi sandee,
I came to visit you and leave a comment last night but thanks to your link to Elizabeth’s blog I got a bit waylaid and spent the ¾ of an hour reading how to alter a book, not that I had any intention of doing one……..before I read it that way.

I just love your AB and if I’m not mistaken the whole point of crafting is to play with stuff and see what the outcome is…and you’re experiment with the embossing past works, so ‘stick’ with it….sorry about that, Lol!

Happy Crafting!
Sue H #128
x

BJ said...

Thanks for your comment on my AB and the pegs! You should see the pegs I used for the inside of the niche - mini ones!! The ornament I have chosen (well it half chose itself due to the depth of the niche) is a glittered snowflake. Thought it would do well for the Winter section of my SEASONS book. Can't beleive how much you have done of your book already, it is wonderful. I've not even thought of how to decorate mine YET! BJ

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Thank you SO much for linking on the correct post. I am having SO many problems with Blogger, it took forever to get back on and visit.

peggy aplSEEDS said...

i think as long as you're enjoying yourself, even Elizabeth won't mind you breaking the rules! i love how you made the bubbles in your niche aquarium!

Sherry said...

Hello Sandee,

Thanks for visiting my blog, becoming a follower (I'm going to follow yours too of course), and for your lovely comments on my altered book. I'm now going through your blog looking for all your AB posts to catch up!

Your niche page is fabulous. What a great idea using tissue paper in and around the niche - hides any imperfections (not that yours has any!!). The suede seaweed strips look great and your sand dollar too! Who other than a crafter would understand the expression 'I pop dotted my glass dolphin' lol - great idea colouring the sticky dot so it doesn't show. Your mermaid looks great too!

Off to find the next instalment now!!

Karen said...

oh WOW!!!!! this looks fabulous...love the little shells!!! I am running late so mine is still drying haha x