Journey - Mini Accordion Book

Hello my Friends!
We're starting a new September week with Sanda's wonderful new project that opens so many creative possibilities...

With a super pretty mini album like this one you can really spread your wings! These pages - each of them an amazing artwork in itself - are perfect little backrounds for all kinds of art making: you can turn them into a diary for writing, a place for your travel memories and ephemera, a photo album, a collaborative journal, oh, the possibilities are truly endless... Enjoy!

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Hello lovely friends,

I’m back today with my new project for the Team.

I love creating books so I decided to share with you something different this time - a mini accordion book that I hope will spark your mojo and will tempt you to create along with me. 😊

I started working on an A3 heavyweight cartridge paper, applying Finn’s Art Alchemy Impasto paints with a brayer.

I built up my background adding more colours, turning my page as I continued to add layer after layer of yummy Impasto paints. I painted the paper on both sides.

I can’t tell you what an awesome texture you can achieve using this technique (you will be able to follow it in my video below) – the page has an almost leather like feel to it. Loooove it!

I know I repeat myself, but these paints are just fabulous! They have a very high pigment load, they are creamy and sooo versatile.

You can play with them in so many different ways: from working them directly from the tube with a palette knife, a brayer or a brush, creating gorgeous textures, and going to a softer, more watercolour look by diluting them with acrylic mediums or water. They are a must have in any craft room. Just sayin’! :D

When I finished brayering the paint and was happy with the result, I cut out the paper in eight 3.5 x 5 inches panels.

As I had laying around on my table a few pieces of deli paper I used to clean my brayer on, I thought I will create my own washi tape using some double sided tape.

So, after backing the deli paper with the adhesive tape, I cut it into 1 inch wide strips and used them as “hinges”, glueing the pages together. I left an eighth of an inch gap between the pages to allow the pages to fold easily.

To decorate my pages and the cover, I used a few of Finn’s stencils and stamps (I have used “Dirty Walls” set which is definitely one of my all time favourites!) and some washi tape.

For my accordion book’s cover focal point, I created a clear acrylic skin transfer. I printed out on a laser printer a photo of the Colosseum and covered it with 6 or 7 layers of Soft Gloss Gel, crisscrossing the layers and leaving each layer to dry before applying the next one.

When the last layer was dry, I fussy-cut the image, immersed it in warm water and left it to sit for about 10- 15 minutes. Then, I rubbed off the paper on the back, revealing the clear acrylic transfer that I adhered to my cover with Soft Matte Gel this time.

As the finishing touch, I created a belt closure for my book from a leftover strip of my painted paper that I decorated to match my book, added a metal label from one of the Mechanicals sets and a piece of velcro.

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 your own wonderful accordion book.

I'm planning to fill mine with photos that I love, from our trips and holidays. What about you? :)

Have a lovely day, my friends, xoxo

Sanda

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