Altered Book Project . . . progressing

I'm getting ready to fly out to California for my mom's birthday party, so this is a bit of an apologetic post. I wanted to finish these two pages, but there was so much else I felt needed to get done. And some of the photos are not very clear. That said, I have made some progress and continue to have fun as I work on this book!

This is my third page and as you can see, I have cut a hole out of it to connect it to the fourth page (the pink peeking out from the circle).

Here's the pink pages looking back, with the teal page peeking through.

And here is the middle of those two page sets. I glued the pages together, adding a piece of velum with a random-dot pattern.


Here are the teal page, partially finished. This duplicates what I had originally used as my first page. Unfortunately, the book wouldn't close, so I ripped those pages out and moved the concept to these two sets of pages. You can't tell from the photo, but there is really wonderful white gold glitter on the edges of the ledger paper.

So far, these pages are my very favorites! I love the pink and I connect with the images. After painting these pages a soft pink, I cross-hatched the paper with gesso, using a dry-brush technique. It kept the gesso from getting too thick. The Victorian lady's hand with egg is from the same set as the chicken wire stamp used on the green pages. The writing, bird, and crown stamps are from Tim Holtz's new collection for Michaels.

The crown reminded me of the wonderful children's book series, My Father's Dragon. The middle book, Elmer and the Dragon, is set on Canary Island, where a community of canaries are ruled by the king and queen, whose crowns look just like this stamp! I highly recommend these books, specially if you have elementary school kids. They are a fun bedtime read. Elmer is a delightful little boy. He has all sorts of adventures with dragons and canaries and he learns a lot in the process!

The lace is part of a stash of small bits and pieces of vintage lace I have collected over the years. I love how it sets off the image of Sarah Bernhardt and well as the porthole window back to the teal pages. I think Sarah should be looking at something connected to her. Please leave me a comment if you have an idea, or are just a Sarah Bernhardt fan! I read a biography of her recently and what an amazing woman!

I will leave you with a photo of what's in store at the back of this book:

Think small treasure boxes!

~Marilee