{Altered Books 101} Cover Story

The cover of an altered book often tells a story about what's inside. I chose a theme of Lost & Found for this book, so I wanted to embellish the cover in a way that reflects that idea. This book is all about the lost or discarded objects I love to find and collect for my art. I used some of those treasures for this cover, along with a few new tools and supplies to create a story that offers a glimpse of what's inside.

I loved the marbled turquoise cover of the Reader's Digest that I chose for this project, so I didn't want to cover it completely and lose the pretty pattern. Inspiration hit via Daniella's post about using tissue paper to cover her altered notebook! I covered the spine with a page torn from an old French book, and then I layered over the entire cover with tissue paper from 7gypsies. Matte gel medium from Liquitex worked well for both types of paper. I tore the edges of the tissue paper deliberately, revealing bits of the patterned cover and that gorgeous color!

A metal tag from Graphic 45 perfectly represented the sub theme of locks and keys found in the pages of the book. I used letter stamps from a fabulous vintage printer's set I recently scored on Ebay to stamp out the Lost & Found title. One of my favorite tips for using letter stamps is to choose the word you want to use, line up the letters, and then wrap the stamps together with Washi tape. This makes it so easy to stamp evenly spaced text! Some vintage trim from my stash and the word "Journal" stamped on a piece of cotton fabric finished off the cover.

I loved the 7 Gypsies tissue paper so much that I decided to use to create 2 simple backgrounds for the inside pages. I layered it over a piece of the French book page on the right, and directly on the book text on the left. Painted paper doilies and a bit more old book paper complete this set of backgrounds.

A page torn from a vintage postcard album that I found at an antique store and some of my cherished Liberty London fabric tape made for a quick and easy background! I can tuck a photo or a postcard in the grooves of the postcard page, or even some altered tags or ATC cards.
I hope you've enjoyed my posts during Altered Books Month here on the blog! I've learned some fun techniques from my fellow Design Team members that I can't wait try for my own books.
Until next time - make art...be happy!
Kimberly