Gem's Inky Antics: I think I should be a bookworm! Quirky Crafts Reminder Challenge #21

Calling All Bookworms...Quirky Challenger Reminder

Well, what can I say.....? This Quirky Craft challenge, is made for me...

Other than being a craft fanatic, I am a self confessed Bookworm!!

I love to read. If I have any free time, I will have a book (or Kindle) in my hands, perched somewhere, in my own little world........

As soon as I saw this image from Robyn's Fetish, I knew it was just right for me...

I quickly decided to make a little book to use as a log (or whatever you want to use it for) to keep track of what I have read.

For the book covers I used Wendy Vecchi 'Art Parts' from my own stash, which are pre-cut small boards of varying shapes and sizes. Luckily the pack I had, had two oblong 'book-like' covers, which was perfect for my little book, all I had to do was punch two holes for the book rings.......

I used Gesso on both sides of the covers as they were quite a dark brown and I wanted the paints to show there true colour. I used Amsterdam paints in this project. I haven't used them very much yet, so I wanted to test them out - and I loved them. They are so rich and creamy and a little bit goes a long way. I selected three colours and dry brushed each colour onto the cover until I was happy with how it looked. When it was dry, I added some texture paste through a stencil and a bottle lid to add some black circles.

I then repeated the process on the back cover.

To give the insides of the cover a bit of interest, I painted them in a darker colour, then when dry, I painted over the colour with Tim Holtz Crackle Glaze. I wanted to create a worn and aged look and to further achieve this, I inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Pad.

I chose the image I wanted to be on the front of the book cover and coloured it in using Inktense Blocks with a water brush. I absolutely love the intensity of colour you achieve using these blocks......
I used colours which complemented the covers, and I was really pleased with the overall effect...

I cut some pages out of watercolour card, making sure they were slightly smaller than the covers, and rounded the corners. I then used som e distress inks to ink around the edges, just to blend away the stark white of the paper.

I found some small book rings and assembled the pages and covers together.

I thought it needed something else adding to it, as it didn't look 'finished'. I had some Tim Holtz Small Labels, so I added them to the cover to create 'The Book Club' book. Although you can obviously make it for whatever use you want it for.

For the finishing touch, I selected a few coloured ribbons and tied them to each of the book rings, it really made a big difference and finished it off properly...