Sunday 15 June 2008

Altered Birthday Book

It was a friend's birthday reciently so i decided as it was she who inspired me to discover my altered side, i would alter her something as a gift.

I had seen an artical in the Craft Stamper mag about making old books into boxes and loved the idea so though i would give it a try.

I started with an old hardback i brought from a charity shop, followed the instructions from the May 08 CS mag (well roughly anyway) , and just added my own twist on the whole thing. (if you want instructions i have a link for a site which shows a great tutorial for something very simular, just leave your e'mail in the comments section and i will happerly forward it on.)

Little details i love (if i do say so myself lol) are the owl, which is a magnolia stamp, coloured and then covered with some crackle glaze and displayed behind an old optical lense. I used grungeboard for the hinges and name, which i painted with a silver dabber, hinges inked over with a black archival ink to age them slightly, and the letters slightly covered here and there with crackle paint and inked with dusty concord distress ink.






I added a book plate type embelishment to the spine with my friends initals in it.







And as i know my friend loves owls i kept the theme going from the front and popped a big owl inside. He was made up of several pieces of paper all mounted on top of each other but with a piece or too missed each layer to show all the different patterns. Time consuming but worth the effort.
To finish i put the same paper i had used on the front with a bar code stamped in black archival ink, and dangeled a little owl charm from a ribbon i stuck inside the spine.

I do hope Hel's liked her present, and my very first attempt at altering old books, i was quite proud of it (and almost kept it lol)

xxx Hugz xxx

13 comments:

Sam said...

WOW........that's a gorgeous gift. Well done you. xx

Hels Sheridan said...

Minxy, I love this book so much hun, you are so clever and talented and inspiring and probably a little bit bonkers too but thank you sooooooo much for this heavenly treasure xxxx

Anonymous said...

This is mind-bogglingly fantastic nicky - you are so talented!! Lucky Hels!!
love Alison xx
P.S. loved the colours!!

Ann said...

WOW!!! Who's a clever cookie?? You're so very talented Minxy - love this book & all your wonderful creations xxx

Kazza said...

This is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, Nicky. Lucky Hels. What a fantastic pressie.xxx Karen

Andrea said...

thats a fantastic present Nicky and truly a lot of hard work from you, its fab x

Angie C said...

Wow Nic, it's so fantastic!! The whole thing looks amazing. Well done you :-)

Linda said...

Quite simply......Stunning Nicky! :)

Unknown said...

WOW Nic, when Hels described it I knew it was fab .... this really is a work of art .... stunning!

Craftyideas said...

Its stunning Nicky xx

*jean* said...

What a great job! I think she's a lucky friend to receive such a lovely gift!

Tracey said...

Nic is gorgeous, love those owls, lucky Hels, can't wait to see what you come up with next.
xx

Debbie said...

Wow, thats really stunning. Beautiful book. Lucky Hels. Can I have the link...Thanks
changedbygrace@mvn.net