A
friend and I have been doing an ongoing altered board book project, sending the
books back and forth from one state to the other after each of us finishes a
spread. We chose ‘quotes’ as the theme. Each of us found a children’s book at a
yard sale and the two books were the starting point. Hers, with curvy edges, is
shown today. Mine, with a basket shape, is coming in June as a separate post –
Altered Board Books, Part 2.
At the
end, we each keep the book that was ours at the beginning. Sometimes we give
ourselves a short turnaround time, other times we take longer…no stress, no
rush.
We’ve
both done a lot of painting, stenciling, stamping and collage. I cut and tore quotes
from a stack of Jane Austen postcards and some Graphic 45 papers for many of my
spreads. I used stamps and an embossing folder that are available at The
Queen’s Ink, along with dimensional embellishments including a mini wire
hanger, an air dry clay flower, lace, embossed and sanded Shimmer Sheetz, tags,
collage papers, alphabet and number stickers, cork dots, washi tape, and more.
Two of
my altered board book spreads are shown here, enough to give you some ideas and
help you get started!
YOUR TURN
This
project can be done solo, or with one other person or several. If you choose to
include another person or a group, make sure everybody is on the same page (pun
intended!) when it comes to things like theme and deadline.
My
friend and I decided not to alter each other’s pages, but have revised some of
our own pages several times! Make up whatever rules and guidelines you want and
then bend ONLY the ones that really matter. (We changed deadlines, but kept
firmly to the rule about not altering each other’s work! And we’ve both been
super careful about packing so neither book has been damaged during all of the
trips through the postal system…)
Here’s
what to do:
Pick a
board book.
Pick a
theme (or let things evolve).
Work
on one page at a time or one two-page spread at a time, or several all at once.
Sketch
on scrap paper if you like to pre-plan, if not, skip this step.
Paint,
stencil, stamp, glue things to the pages.
Optional:
For durability, seal pages with clear medium (matte or gloss).
Make
sure that the spreads are thoroughly dry before closing, sending or storing the
book!
Tip:
We have trimmed pieces of parchment paper to fit between the pages so that over
time they can’t ever stick together.
SUPPLIES:
- Board book
- Rubber stamps (RubberMoon)
- Ink pads
- Gesso in black and/or white
- Assorted paints, papers, cardstock, stencils
- Adhesives appropriate to what you want to adhere
- Matte and/or gloss medium
- Markers, pencils (coloring medium of choice)
- Embellishments, stickers, collage papers
- Suit of Cards embossing folder (KaiserCraft)
- Shimmer Sheetz in Fire Opal Gemstone
- PLUS whatever else you want!
Looks like a fun project. I'll have to watch for shape books.
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