Off the Rails Scrapbooking: Joan's Book Art Tutorial

Joan here today sharing some book art

~ I have always been fascinated and intrigued by any craft project using old books and/or book pages. I am especially in awe of folded book art. Unlike some diehard bookworms, I have no problem up cycling old books. You can Google "Folded Book Art" and get hundreds of ideas and tutorials. You can even purchase pre-marked books that tell you just where to make the folds ... and so I did. After I complete my folded book art project

I decided it needed a special cover.

First I made a book cover to fit my book. I used a heavy weight white wrapping paper. I used the same concept as making a book cover from a brown paper bag.

1) I applied a light layer of Mod Podge to the front side of the book cover.

2) For this step you have to work quickly. I laid a piece of printed tissue paper over the adhesive and pressed it flat with my hands, smoothing out any wrinkles. Then I had to let it dry. To speed up the drying process I used a heat gun.

3) I trimmed the excess tissue paper from around the book

cover using a pair of scissors.

4) I then distressed the edges of the book cover using a distressing tool.

5) I applied four colors of distress paint on the tissue paper using my fingers.

6) While the paint was still wet I misted with water to blend the colors.

7) I partially dried the painted tissue paper with a heat gun.

8) I then sprayed the painted background with two mists of distress spray stain.

9) While the stain was still wet I misted with water to react the spray stain and blend the colors. I blotted off the excess color with a paper towel to achieve the look I wanted.

10) I printed the quote on cardstock and cut the individual words out. I then adhered the words to the front of the book cover. I highlighted a few of the words using a distress marker along the edges and immediately smudged the ink with a Q-tip dipped in water to create a shadow effect.