Altered Board Book

One of the earliest projects in our Color of Woman teacher training was the invitation to create simple art journals, setting our intention, using simple supplies and an inexpensive composition book as the container. These journals, called Cosmic Smash Books by an earlier graduate, Catt Geller, became companions for many of us on our quest, holding notes, inspiration, and process pages. I made several that year, and many others since.

We began and covered books in our last Red Thread Creatives circle, and this week, created a grounding, resting or process page. We were led by Linda Allen, a CoW graduate and Smashbook Guide. Linda is a big fan of using junk mail and other throw away for booklets and pages.

In our last session, I painted a cover for the journal I was already working in, using a sturdy paper bag from my daughter's stash. My youngest granddaughter came outside to paint with me, making hers for a spiral bound notebook.

This week, I worked in an altered children's board book, ~ 7×7" which has 5 double spread pages. Here are some tips on altering a board book:

• Sand the boards, removing all the gloss 
• Write your intention for the book using Sharpie or paint
• I covered the front and back with gesso, then paint and acrylic ink a few days ago, following a little tutorial 
• On Instagram, Anouk suggested running painted tape along the crease of each spread, both as reinforcement and to prevent cracking (I need to do that in my book)
• Use a spatula, sponges, or a credit card to apply paint 
• Use light layers of paint, and embellish with stamps, stencils light collage 
• You can add tabs, lace, our other embellishments
• Gild the edges with metallic paint

Here's the centering page spread I worked on in this week's Circle - Balance of the Light and dark. I prepped the center spread with gesso and paint (including gold on both the cover and the page), then used my older granddaughter's craft paint and a light layer of gloss mod podge.

This post has more tips, ideas and resources for your juju journal or Cosmic Smashbook.

Happy Paint Party Friday!