Gathering Dust

Low Tech Backgrounds for a Collage Book

 

I like to make little books.  I think its because I know I'll never write a book, but if I can put a book together, it seems like a step toward authorship.

I've made books from index cards,bingo cards, paper bags, dominos, CDs and a lot of other things I can't remember.  If you can add paper to something, it's fair game for a book.

 

A few months ago, I got this box of nice stationary in a box lot at an auction.  I laughed when I read what the previous owner had written on the side:  "Paper & envelopes don't match but should do for family".

 

The paper actually is very nice- and I loved the old label.

The pieces of paper are about 9" x 4 1/2"- so when you fold them in half, they make a nice 4 1/2" square.  When you fold a bunch of papers and nestle them together along the fold- you've got a book.  The last book I made, I sewed along the fold.

 

The paper is nice, but kind of plain, so I wanted to jazz it up a bit with backgrounds before I started adding images.

One of the easiest and fasted ways to get a background is to use an ink pad and a dauber brush.  Most kinds of ink pads will work, as long as they aren't too wet or don't take long to dry. 

 

I use the dauber brush in two ways.  On the piece of paper on the top of the picture, I brushed the ink onto the page, using the top and side of the brush.  In the bottom piece of paper, I "pounced" with the brush- I moved it straight up and down so only the top of the brush hits the paper.  This is similiar to how you use a stencil brush.

You can also take your ink pad and rub it directly across the paper- this is a really fast way to get some color on your page, but sometimes you can end up with heavy lines from the edges of the ink pad.

 

A little color is fine, but a whole book with single color backing would be boring, so let's add something more.  This is a handwriting stamp I've had for a long time- you can tell it's seen some wear.

 

It's also an unmounted stamp- that is, I bought just the red rubber part of the stamp, and mounted it myself.  For a long time I thought I couldn't use unmounted stamps because I didn't want to invest in the mounting equipment.   Then someone told me about using fun foam as a backing.  I just glue the red rubber to a piece of fun foam, trim the edges and make a stamp copy to glue on the top of the foam so I know what the image is.

Ink your stamp and just start doing some random stamping.  I'm kind of a messy stamper, and my hand isn't very steady, but I don't worry about blurring- you just want the "impression" of handwriting, you don't really want anyone to be reading your background.

 

I usually stamp three or four times before I re-ink.  That gives each impression a slightly different color and darkness.

You can stop with that- or you can use a dauber brush and ink pad to color in the background a bit.

 

Not a huge change, but it just gives the page a little more depth.

Another way to fill in a page is using tissue paper.  I like using old pattern pieces, but any kind of tissue paper will work.

  

I use a glue stick to attach the tissue paper because a wet glue will probably show through.  I run a brayer over the tissue as I glue to make sure it is (sort of) smooth and actually stuck to the paper.

 

Another really easy background that you see a lot is music.  I trim the edges of mine before I start working with it because a big piece of plain margin can really throw off a page. 

 

Sheet music is nice, but it will be more interesting to the eye if we add something else with the same colors but a different scale.  This band of numbers but from a master bingo game will stand out against the music- especially since I inked the edge. These fluid chalk "cat's eyes" by Colorbox make darkening an edge really easy.  Actually thats all I use them for- I'm not even sure how they'd be to use for rubber stamping.

 

I'm going to add one more thing to this page- a swirly stamp- again, it just makes the page a little more interesting without distracting.

 

And there you have it- five finished pages- I added the swirly stamp to one of the handwriting pages, and you can see the other side of the music page.

But wait- we're not done- we still have to do the other side of the pages.  If you want to see more easy backgrounds, I can do another post.

 

In the mean time, if you can't wait- I have a semi finished book and collage kit in my Etsy Shop.

And I need to thank Mary,  Karen and  Dawn for the great images they supply regularly.

We Interrupt Sepia Summer for Vintage Wallpaper...

 

As much as I like sepia, sometimes a girl's just gotta get some color in her life.  I love my vintage wallpaper, but I have a tendency to be a little bit of a hoarder about it.  I like "having it" and I'm afraid to use it because then I won't "have" it anymore. I think that's kind of like having your cake etc etc..

 

But I decided it was time to get some of it out where it could be enjoyed. I started working on these "house books" back in March.  I've been piecing scraps of wallpaper together on the pages of a deconstructed board book and added a house cut out to some of them.

 

These are fun because they can be used as a scrapbook - just add pictures, doodles, postcards to the pages.  Or, the books can be taken apart and each book has four two sided pages that could be used as the basis for a collage.

I finished the books up last week at Karla's- and she was working on  wallpaper house books, too.  We hadn't talked about, we just both had the same idea at the same time- great minds think alike?

 

While I had the wallpaper out, I worked on a collaged chipboard book. I usually lay out a bunch of wallpaper I like and stare at it for a loooong time before I decide if I dare cut and paste it.

  

And then I get a little upset when it wrinkles in the crease of the book- just like it would in the corner of a room...

 

Then I made a BUNCH of tags.  This little birthday birdie and the "D is for Doll" logomachy are my favorites.

All are available in my Etsy Shop.

Inside an Ephemera Book

 

If you've read much of my blog, you know that I LOVE old paper.    Wallpaper,  letters,  magazines, trade cards, greeting cards,  calenders,  school notebooks, children's artwork - if it's got some age, I'm probably drawn to it.

That's why I was so fascinated by Mary Green's ephemera books.  Mary takes the best pages from old books and combines them with other paper- maps, flash cards, letters, postcards and adds a cool old book cover and makes a "new" old book.

I was lucky to get one from Mary last week- here's a peek inside at some GOP (Great Old Paper).

What do I love?  The fancy border and the font.

Foreign postcard.

Botanical print next to a page of ledger paper.

V-Mail.  During World War II, soldiers wrote their letters home on special V-mail paper.

From the National Postal Museum

V, or Victory mail, was a valuable tool for the military during World War II. The process, which originated in England, was the microfilming of specially designed letter sheets. Instead of using valuable cargo space to ship whole letters overseas, microfilmed copies were sent in their stead and then "blown up" at an overseas destination before being delivered to military personnel. 
 

The letter inside.

Just a pretty illustration.

And another sweet illustration across from a flash card.

A fold out catalog page with pretty lingerie.

And in the back of the book:

An envelope filled with bits and pieces.

One of the really fun things about these books is the...possibilities.  I can take out pages, use them in my own collages and crafts.  Or, if I find a great old magazine picture, page from a book, map, postcard or ad- I can hole punch it and add it to my book.

Oh, yes, the possibilities...I'm off to grab some old paper and my hole punch.

Must Have Craft Supplies

 

Yesterday afternoon, as I was planning the rest of my weekend, I made an executive decision that I was going to spend Sunday afternoon in my craft room- doesn't matter that company is coming tomorrow, that I have other projects (and laundry) scattered through out the house, that I have old stuff, er...inventory that should be tagged for the antique mall- if I don't plan and make time for things I enjoy, they just won't get done.

So, as I was playing in my craft room, I started thinking about my "must have" craft supplies- the things that if I lost them, I would go out and buy a replacement before I crafted again.

They are:

 

Scallop edge scissors- I think almost any background or border is more interesting with a decorative edge.  I can't cut straight, so I usually draw a pencil line on the back of my paper so I can line up the ridges of the scallop with something.

Often, after I add a scallop edge, I outline it with a metallic marker.  Again I use a ruler- I run the marker along the edge of the ruler so I get a neat border.

Little scissors with a sharp point to cut around details.  It probably would have been helpful to show the scissors with OUT the cover so- but trust me, the blades are small and sharp.

Corner rounder paper punch.  I like the soft edge it gives to a tag or bookmark.

On this tag you can see where I used all of my favorites- I used a scallop edge scissor to cut out different strips of wallpaper, and then edged them with a gold paint pen.  The fine details on the little girl were cut out with the sharp blade scissors and I rounded the corners.

 

Oh, and glue- I go back and forth between using a glue stick and using Incredibly Tacky.  A glue stick doesn't hold, but liquid glue can buckle.  Incredibly Tacky buckles less than any wet glue I've used.  Sometimes, I'll use both- a glue stick around the edges, so they don't buckle, and Incredibly Tacky for the rest of a piece. 

Can I call Incredibly Tacky just IT, so I can be like Rachel Ray and her EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)?

And why is the IT upside down in a parfait glass?  It just seems to flow better if it's stored that way. 

 

And the last thing- paper, I need lots of paper.

So what are your must have supplies?

Thanks for all the Sepia Love on Etsy- I've added a few more sepia summer listings to my Etsy Shop.

 

Sepia Summer

 

As I look around my "treasures"- stacks of paper pictures & lace from auctions and estate sales, I realized I have a lot of sepia stuff.  I'm using sepia as kind of a generic term for any color from cream to a tea stained tan.

 

I've spent (or wasted) some time this afternoon playing with lace, trim & beads and then got down to work and have listed some in my Etsy Shop.

  

I've also listed some old school readers with sweet illustrations- and now I'm off to play some more "Sepia Summer".