Mixed media journal cover

Hellooo...

I dabbled with some sprays today and couldn't wait to share the outcome with you.
I have been holding onto these sprays for a couple of days and itching to play along.
 I recently bought a couple of Gold alcohol sprays from Itsy Bitsy and was excited to try it out.

I decided to alter my journal book cover. I created this book by stitching up my childhood story book, about 5 of them! Yes these books are about 40yrs old! I like the fact that the pages inside are thick and turned old and there are some amazing water colored images.

I have also used corrugated cardboard to make the book cover with a 2 inch spine. It has been in my "to do " list to alter this cover and now is the time for it!
So lets's see how I did it...

I first covered the cover with black gesso and then layered it with some found objects, old paint brushes, metal embellishments, modge melts, resin embellishments, fish net, buttons, old nails, old plastic pill bottle and also used die cut "CREATE" at the bottom!I used silicon glue to stick the leyers and waited overnight for it to dry!



For the spine, I have used a scrap foam sheet to cut out pieces and layered the spine with it. This has been stuck with hot glue and have also created faux nails with hot glue.

Next, I covered the entire arrangement with black gesso.



Once this tried, I took out my sprays...time to play!

The first layer was the alcohol spray in green, Citron Breeze. I heat set it and moved on to next layer with some yellow and blue stashes from my stash.



The real impact was on spraying the Golden mocha spray! The entire look of the layout changed...it suddenly started to rust!
You get what I am saying...look at this!



This was just perfect ...I went about creating the metallic rust look on the spots that I wanted and also on the spine where I had the foam bits. Look at the outcome! Just like metallic foil!



Once I was happy with the layering of color sprays, I heat set the whole thing to ensure it was dry. Then I took the metallic paste in white frost and went about rubbing with my fingers.



This highlighted the raised portions and brought the textures out.
It also toned down the darkness of the sprays and gave it a silvery, brushed metal kind of look.


 I thought I would stop with this but one look at the garden and the bright orange bloom behind, inspired me to add some hand made flowers!



I tucked a couple of them which have also been colored using sprays and I have applied white frost paste in the edges.



The flowers brightened the cover instantly!
A perfect match to the outdoors now!



I couldn't stop clicking pictures in different angles to capture the shimmer of the sprays..but I guess it looks a lot better in real!



I am in love with my new, rusty, metallic journal book! I hope this inspire me to open the book and work on the pages too, lol!



I would love to carry this book to the following challenges...

Frilly and Funkie- Something old (old story books, old brushes)
Itsy Bitsy - use Alcohol sprays (cintron breeze, golden mocha)
Studio 75- hint of gold
Eclectic ellapu - anything goes
Mixed Media World- Ag

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Until my next creative journey,
Happy crafting and recycling.
Cheers.