CHRISTMAS WISHES ... AN OPEN BOOK

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!  
 It's that magical time of year when Santa makes his whirlwind tour, leaving presents and spreading joy to all who believe.  My Christmas wish for you is one of JOY ... simply the joy of the season; the memories of Christmases past, the blessings of Christmas present and the hope of Christmases future.  

This week at Simon Says Stamp and Show, it's all about "wishes".  Since it's Christmas Eve, I wanted to share another vintage Christmas home decor piece!  This is my vintage style altered book to reflect Christmases past
and wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

I originally saw this altered book idea on my Design Teammate, Suzz' blog.  I think her work is fabulous.  I particularly loved her altered book and wanted to give it a try.

Here is my completed book I have titled "Christmas Wishes".  

It began with a trip to the Dollar Store where I found what I considered the perfect size hardback book for my project; Janet Evanovich's "To The Nines".  

(Sorry Janet....but it was onlyl $1!)

Next I took the book with my on my recent trip to Southern California ... not to read on the plane but to fold the pages in a pattern.  Actually, it didn't take all that long to fold them.  I began in the center of the book and made my first "peak"; folding two pages in triangles and the folded edges facing in towards each other.  I used 1/4" Scor Tape to tape the peaks together.  From there, I folded the next two sheets of paper (on one side of the peak) in half.  Then I taped them together by placing a piece of 1/4" Scor Tape between the pages, on the outside edge of the page, to form a pocket.  On the next page, I only folded down about 1" of the top of the page and ran a piece of 1/8" tape along the inside bottom edge.  I would later edge punch these pages.  I repeated this pattern on both sided of the book until all the pages were folded.  If the pattern doesn't come out exactly the same on both sides, it's not a big deal.  Mine just happened to work out though.

Next, I edge punched the tops of the pages that I had left sticking out the farthest.  I used a combination of Martha Stewart's Arch Lattice and Snow Flurry edge punches.  They created light and airy edges for my vintage book. 

My next step was to spray the pages with a beautiful vintage-ish Christmas color from Tattered Angels ... Candy Apple Glimmer Mist.  I sprayed all of the pages in sections and let each section dry before spraying more.  I also used latex gloves when doing this, so I could move the pages around and spray down into the crevasses I'd created with the folded paper.

After the pages were dry, I added some highlights of vintage-ness by adding swipes from a Gold Paint Dabber along all of the folded edges.  It added quite a bit of depth and shimmer to my book.

Before I got more carried away with finishing the interior of my book, I felt like I needed to do something with the exterior cover of the book.  It was all black with the book's title going up the center of the spine.  Had it just been all black, I probably would have just left the book cover alone.  But, "To the Nines" running up the spine sort of broke the Christmas spirit ... so I covered the outside of the book with Golden Molding Paste and let it dry.  Once dry, I painted it with Claudine Hellmuth's Dash of Red Studio Paint.  After that dried, washed the book with a mixture of water and Burnt Umber Acrylic Paint.  Then I added highlights on the raised areas left by the Molding Paste by swiping over them with some Gold Paint Dabber that I had wiped onto my finger.  When that was dry, I could continue embellishing my altered interior of my book.

I chose a piece of older Christmas paper that I had from Basic Grey called "Wassil".  It is a predominantly green background with holly leaves and small red berries on it.  I thought it was a perfect contrast for my red pages.  I also added some ornate metallic gold Dresden trim to either side of the paper that I had cut into a 5 1/4" x 8 1/4" rectangle for the interior covers.  I edged the pages with a Gold Paint Dabber, wrapped the Dresden trim over the edges and glued the paper into place.  Then I dabbed the Gold Paint Dabber all around the interior edges of the book to hide any exposed black from the original cover.  

The Tim Holtz Tick Tock clocks on either side of the book are cut from chipboard that was covered in the Wassil paper.  I cut four clocks (front and back for each side of the book).  I edged them with a Gold Paint Dabber and also randomly swiped the paint dabber over the paper.  The Santa in the center is one of my favorite Tim Holtz vintage Santa stamps ... Storytime Santa.  

I inked the stamp using Fired Brick Distress Ink on Santa's hat and coat and Black Soot Distress Ink for all of the other details.  Then I stamped it onto manila cardstock.  Finally, colorized his face, hands and beard and the background with colored pencils.  I cut out a piece of plastic from the packaging (which I save!!) from some of Tim's products and made a "watch crystal" to cover Santa.  Then I cut Santa out.  I first glued on the clear packaging followed by Santa (using Glossy Accents just around the perimeter of the circle).  Then I glued the back side of the clock in place.  I repeated this for the clock that is located on the other side of the book.

I added some Tim Holtz' holly cut out of plain Grungeboard and inked with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.  Then I smeared Patina Stickles all over the holly leaves to give them that festive shimmer and set them aside to dry.  When dry, I hot glued them onto the clocks, added some red organza ribbon, a few red jingle bells" and a couple of little gold bells.  Finally, I added a little glittery gold snowflake to each clock and they were finished!

Now for all of the goodies that would be adorn the interior pages and pockets of my book ...

I recently purchased a couple of packages of wonderful vintage Christmas ephemera from Fancy Pants' Saint Nick and Kaiser Turtle Dove collections.  Some I added to the book using Tim Holtz' Mini Paperclips and others I either just stuck into the pockets or hot glued them onto little sticks and stuck them out of pockets.  

I also added a couple of older Sizzix die cuts that I love ... a large round ornament that I cut out of plain Grunbeboard, inked with Fired Brick and embossed with Tim Holtz' new Holly Branch Texture Fade.  Then I heat embossed the holly and randomly around the edges of the ornament with Gold Embossing Powder.  I love the vintage looking result!  The top of the ornament was cut twice (front and back).  I covered some Grungeboard with some Metal Foil Tape Sheets and ran them through my Vagabond.  Then I colored the shiny silver metal with my Gold Paint Dabber and glued the tops together (with the ornament sandwiched in between) with Glossy Accents.  I added a little gold wire "ornament hanger". 

 

I also love my old Sizzix #2 Snowflake die cut.  I cut two big snowflakes out of Grungeboard, painted them white with a Snowcap Paint Dabber.  When dry, I sprayed them lightly with some honey stain spray and then covered them with Icicles Stickles for that old vintage look.  Then I just slid them in place inside of pockets.  The little snowman is from Artistic Outposts' Frosty and Friends stamp set ... very retro and very cute stamps!  I stamped him on to manila cardstock using Jet Black Archival ink and then colored him with colored pencils.  

Here are the snowflake rosettes in various stages of completion.

And finally...what probably "makes" the entire book ... Tim Holtz' Mini Snowflake Rosettes.  I used the four larger ones to spell out "WISH" and added two smaller ones with a little blingy rhinestone in the center on either end.  

The snowflakes began on white cardstock.  I then lightly sprayed them with a honey spray to instantly age them.  Then I made the rosettes and glued them together using Glossy Accents.  Once dry, I added a bit of Chestnut Roan ink to the edges and then I added Icicles Stickles for that very vintage sparkle.  I also added some Platinum Stickles around the edges of the snowflakes for more definition.  

"WISH" is inked with Fired Brick and topped with Fruit Punch Stickles.  They are mounted on small sticks that are stuck inside pockets of the book.  I added a few more little golden glittery snowflakes on the edges of some of the peaks and my little vintage Christmas book is complete!

This is not a challenge week.  It is simply a time for all of us to share with our family and friends.  So, I hope that you have a blessed holiday week.  
Make some wonderful memories.

But...Simon Says Stamp and Show is offering a very nice discount on many of their items!  Be sure to check THAT out!

Click HERE to be taken to a very special section where you can take advantage of their end of the year sale and save 40% off of many many items!

From my home to yours...

 A Very Merry And Blessed Christmas!!!

Here are the products available at Simon Says Stamp that I used in this vintage book:

InLinkz.com