Starting an Art Journal

I have not been able to get into crafting yet this year. I finally got all of the Christmas decorations put away, so maybe that will help, even if I'm STILL not finished with my December Daily album. I am up to Dec 28th, so I'm making progress.

I've been wanting to create an art journal, but never got around to it. Then a wonderful friend asked if I'd do one with her. I jumped at the chance and got started right away. We decided to use old books for the journals and swap once a month or so.

Here is my book "before":

I had this thirft store book laying around the house. I used some of my new paints that Husband bought me for Christmas. I started with Unbleached Titanium to cover up that ugly green cover.

I wish I had taken photos of each step. I'm getting better - I took a Before photo. Next time... Anway, I layered on paint - turquoise polka dots toned down with pale pink paint to fade and distress. Then I adhered a piece of lace fabric and started on the centerpiece.

I wanted to use some of my favorite vintage supplies for the cover, and also keep it flat so the book is easy to work in. I used vintage sheet music, dress pattern tissue, buttons, and lace trim. I opened an old hymnal to this page - A Beautiful Life. It was perfect for this project.

I completed one page inside. The book's title is "Sand and Stars," and this cover page brought the image of a mermaid to my mind. I used acrylic paints to cover the text and then added watercolors to fill in the white space. I found the perfect mermaid image on the Graphics Fairy blog.

I further embellished the page with some lace scraps, a tiny seashell, and bits of bling. I want to complete the facing page before I send on to Julie to work her magic in my book.