my altered art journal....

LOVE this project....shared it with my students (my very first ever students :) a couple of weeks ago...
& we had a blast spending our hour together collaging and painting away..
by the end of that hour i was so inspired...those women really kicked it up a notch or two :)

definitely fun & SO easy...
i had stumbled upon this idea strolling through anthropologie on 15th street...they had tons of these folded book inards things decorating their shelves....& it struck me....voila!  this would make such a cool art journal :)
SO...if you'd like to make your own, here is a quick how to :)

grab a kinda old book....
the subject matter is not a focus here...you are looking for some good book bones :)
**tips:  should be about 300 pages or so and not at the crumbly stage so you can have fun altering & arting it up :)

now take that kinda old book...rip off the total cover so all you are left with are the book "guts"
(i.e.:  bound brick of pages)...grab some gaffer tape & reinforce your binding...you are going to need that binding to hold b/c we are gonna be giving this book some new life :)

***i'll take a picture of this stage tomorrow so that you can see clearly what you need to start with before the folding begins:)***

now take that bound brick of pages & start folding...fold each page inward in half...
you can see how it should be in this picture pretty well

keep folding until all the pages are done & that brick should have turned into a cool "column" of folded pages that can stand up on it's own

now grab your paints, your vintage elements, your everyday ephemera, your photos, your punches, your embroidery floss & needle, grab some  labels & go...

create
enjoy
have a grand old time :)

& link me up if you got down to it :)

happy tuesday :)

xoxoxo

gi

Comments

[jayne]

Pure creative genius.....

Oh, and, with you as their mom how could any of the 3 NOT be amazing???? Please give a little credit where credit is due.

xoxo

[becky]

love, love that book g!

[Petrina McDonald]

magic mate! So good :)

[Tracy (tallynt)]

saw that book when you taught the class and was kicking myself for not signing up - the results were so amazing. Thanks for posting the instructions, now I can make one myself. I know I have some old books lying around just waiting to be reborn. =)

[jessi lute]

gigi!!! wicked cool!!! i love it!!! will definitely be creating my own!!

[debbie]

What a clever idea! Can't wait to see more of it tomorrow...

[Kathy Reid]

This is so cool and inspiring. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to try it.

[Amy Tangerine]

hey sweets! I LOVE this book.
and love you too.
HUGS

[Nicole]

this is so awesome gigi!!!!
your talent seriously amazes me!

[tracey]

Cool Gi I have to add this to my list of must do.

[courtney]

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing that! I can't wait to try my hand at one of those...you are awesome!

Have a fab day!

[Danica (dljack75)]

This is fabulous! I heard nothing make raves about your class! Thanks for sharing this on your blog. Can't wait to try it!

-Danica

[Kara]

This is SO amazing! Loveeee.

[jen]

Awww - I LOVE this. adorable.

[AndreaWiebe]

GiGi...that is just AMAZING!!!!
I love the way it stands up...just perfect :)
Lots of love to you :D

[traci]

i am so glad u showed how to make this!!!
can't wait to try it!

[Lisa]

This looks like a very cool project! Thanks for the idea and the How-to :)

[angie]

this is so cool! thanks for the how-to:)

[lisa truesdell]

this is freaking amazing. love it!!

[Linda Pearson]

Thanks G! This is an AMAZING project! Can't wait to start on mine!!