Book in a Box/PaperArtsy Blog Project

Hi everyone, back again tonight with  my project that is linked/posted on the PaperArtsy blog tonight - Here.  I have loved using Tracy Scott's stamp sets to create this 'Book in a Box' project. The stamps are fabulous for art journaling. I'm sure many of you will know her work. She's one talented lady!

This project took me about four days to complete and I loved every minute I spent on it! I used my favourite PaperArtsy Fresco chalk paint colours. If you saw my blog post yesterday, this project has used virtually all the same ones. I always use a lot of colours, particularly bright ones, when I'm journaling and really, this journaling technique is what I have used on the box itself as well as the concertina book inside! 

I do think that in order to explain the steps I took to complete this project, I need to spread this explanation over 2/3 posts. So, tonight, I'm going to focus on how I created the box. Tomorrow, I will explain how I created the back of the concertina booklet and on Sunday I will explain how I completed it to display photos of my five gorgeous Grandfairies! 

This will give you an idea of all the paints I started off with - I added more colours later, before adding gelatos and PaperArtsy Infusions to the mix. A veritable Mixed Media project. So, how did I begin? 

I started with just a couple of Fresco paints after gessoing both the box and the booklet on both sides. I love these colours! 

Then, as I often do, I used some papers I had in my stash and ripped them up to add a layer of collage. These were so pretty and fitting for the purpose I wanted to leave some of the paper design showing through at the end. I also used some modelling paste (Golden) through a stencil randomly over the surfaces, including the sides. 

These are the colours I used to paint over the collage for the next layer as well as both sides of the concertina booklet. 

The next stage for both cover and booklet was to add a layer of stencilling. I have explained which ones I used over on the PA blog, but you can see many of them in the photo. 

Following a lot of stencilling, I added some more marks with gel pens and bottle lids dipped first in Fresco Snowflake, then Little Black Dress. 

Finally, the most fun part, was using Tracy's very first stamp set (and my favourite) to add a layer of stamping. I used gelatos to add colour within the stamped circles as I love the translucent effect over the previous layers. The other stamped images were coloured with Ranger Distress pens.

And this is the reverse. I love Tracy's quirky stamp images and I really love that border strip. I do hope you've enjoyed seeing how this came together and I look forward to showing you how I made the booklet that fits inside tomorrow night. I do hope you will join me again! Until then...

Pop over to the PA blog and have a look at all the wonderful, creative books that have been made over the past fortnight. I'm sure you will be inspired to have a go yourself. If you missed my blogpost yesterday, do have a look as I created a mini version of a concertina book in a tin! I love making mini books. 

I'd love you to comment below and let me know your thoughts!