Create Magic

Hello Lovely Friends!
Sanda and I share the love for vintage books and never miss an opportunity to alter their covers and pages and give them completely new magical lives...
I'm sure you'll love Sanda's new project as much as I do and perhaps feel tempted to decorate a vintage book long forgotten on your shelf. ;)

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Hello lovely people,

Well, I don’t know about you, but I love going to book fairs and browse antiquarian shops. One can never know what treasures might be laying around.

It was on one of these trips I stumbled upon a hardcover, pocket dictionary from… 1904. The minute I saw it I knew exactly what I will be doing with it!

Inspiration can come in many ways and for this art journal cover, I was definitely under Anna’s/ Finnabair spell, as I had the luck and privilege to meet her and attend one of her live classes, as well as her new online class a while ago.
I encourage you from the bottom of my heart to go and take her classes, my friends, as they are really, really SPECIAL!!! So, if you have this opportunity, don’t miss it and go for it! They are a must!

I started my project by applying a coat of Heavy White Gesso to my cover and after drying, I spread Limestone Stone Effect Paste through one of Finnabair’s Doily stencils.

When the texture paste was dry, I created my composition by glueing down lots of different Finnabair Mechanicals using 3D Matte Gel and a silicone brush.
I filled the Pocket Watch with Art Stones, Mini Art Stones and some bigger stones I made using paper clay and adhered everything again with 3D Matte Gel (I am using this type of medium as I know there will be lots of painting and brushing involved in my next steps and I don’t want anything to move).

I dried everything with my heating tool and then moved to the other side of the cover adhering another Mechanical embellishment with two brads.

For my next step, I covered everything with a layer of Heavy Black Gesso and then dried it with the heat gun.

Using a Finnabair clear background stamp, pigment ink and embossing powder I added more visual texture to my cover.

Then, it was time for splashing some colour.
For this, I started with a selection of Art Alchemy Opal Magic and Metallique paints (you can see all the paints I used in my video tutorial and the list bellow).
I worked from light to dark and from pale to bright colours until I was pleased with the result.
To enhance even more the colours I continued with the simply “yummilicious” Art Alchemy Waxes, brushing them here and there where I needed a pop of colour.

To highlight the texture I have used a mixture of Mica Powders and the new and totally fabulous Art Alchemy Sparks which, in my opinion, are the ultimate highlighter and have no rival on the market!

I painted one of Finn’s metal Butterflies and a tiny chipboard arrow, first with a coat of Black Gesso and then with Art Alchemy Waxes and attached them with 3D Matte el.

As a finishing touch, I stamped a couple of Finnabair stamps on a piece of white tissue paper, cut them out and pasted them using Soft Matte Gel, which is the perfect medium for collage work.

Here is my video where you can watch my creative process and see all the products I used.
Enjoy and have fun!

I hope you enjoyed and got inspired by my new project and you are ready to create some magic of your own.:)


Have a wonderful day and a creative weekend, my friends, xoxo

Sanda 

Products used: