I created my album with the help of some lovely stencils from Stencil Girl (our sponsor this month), some Gelli printing with real natural elements, and a cover made with those same meadow grasses and leaves once I'd finished printing with them.
This is one of those War and Peace length posts, but I've tried to minimise the words and maximise the pictures, so hopefully it's more like a stroll through an art gallery than reading a novel! Why not grab some refreshments and let me take you on a walk through the meadow with me?
I can't really give you much information about the Gelli prints, as I was just playing and experimenting and enjoying myself in the moment.
I've been watching lots of Birgit Koopsen videos on YouTube to get into the Gelli swing of things.
The leaves and grass stems just came from outside my front door.
And I just used the same few over and over again, so they also gathered paint as they went.
As you can see, I suffered the usual "can't stop" Gelli phenomenon!
I can show you the paint colours I used for my printing session. All of them were done with variations of these four.
And, in addition to the plant matter, I used Tim Holtz's wonderful Shattered stencil - playing the role of cobwebs here, of course.
And then I had all these prints and nowhere to put them... so I thought they'd better go in a book.
Since I wanted to create a nice substantial book, I needed more pages. Rather than getting the Gelli plate out again, I decided to play with two glorious meadow grass stencils made by Stencil Girl.
They are Nosegay and Buds, designed by Cecilia Swatton.
I sprayed through and "printed" with leftover inks in Distress Spray colours chosen to complement the DecoArt paints I'd been using.
I'm not going to do too much on the how-to front with these stencilled pages, since there's a partner piece to this coming soon where I've done a similar thing.
Watch out for my tutorial mid-month over at Mini Album Makers when we'll be taking a walk through some slightly different meadows!
The basic structure for this book was created using the envelope technique. You can find out more about how that's done by checking out my Glimpses of Springtime and/or Ruth Mescall's great little YouTube tutorial, though this is on an altogether larger scale.
The Glimpses of Springtime book was two inches square. This one is 7 x 7 inches. Also, for that one I painted, inked and stamped direct onto the envelopes as my pages.
For this one, since my Gelli prints were on separate pages, I built my envelope structure first, and then stuck on the pages front and back. This means it's also pleasurably sturdy to handle. The pages have substance and weight to them.
The cover was the last part to be completed. Once I'd torn myself away from the Gelli printing, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the leaves and stems I'd been using, so I stuck them down onto another sheet of the 7 x 7 cardstock.
Before I started building up layers of paint and glazes, I stuck the sheet onto a firm piece of cardboard, and sealed them in with a good coat of gel medium.
This should stop them from decaying over time. I did the same with some leaves and fir fronds in an art journal about three years ago, and they're still going strong!
Using the same paints with glazing medium I built my layers.
Eventually some inks got into the mix, and some water drops and white paint for splatter.
I also applied the Titanium White with a credit card in places...
... as well as giving the flower heads of the grass stems some fresh life.
I added DecoArt crackle glaze around the edges in places, and used Antiquing Creams over it once it was dry.
A Quote Chip layered over some frayed linen ribbon tells you how much of me has gone into this book.
It was only when I was done that I realised I needed to create a similar piece for the back cover, so I had to start all over again.
I managed to get a fairly similar sort of look, but I wish I'd done it at the same time!
I added some broad hessian ribbon for my spine.
And there's linen ribbon also glued within the covers to create a fastening for the book.
Again, I'll be sharing some more making-of detail about the binding in the tutorial over at Mini Album Makers later in the month, where I've used the same spine and fastening for the partner piece.
I'm calling this a Meditation Book. My PaperArtsy word stamps provide just a little food for thought on each internal page spread.
As you turn the pages, there's time and matter for contemplation, and a sense of peace and beauty should descend. Each spread has a Gelli print, a stencilled print, and some words to enjoy. For now let me just turn the pages for you so that you can see each double spread (and do click on the photos to see them in a larger size...
I hope you've enjoyed this meditative meadow walk, and I hope you'll be inspired to create a handmade book this month.
There's plenty more inspiration from my lovely team-mates, including two fabulous new designers whom we're delighted to welcome to the team, so do hop over and take a look.
As always at Mini Album Makers, all styles and genres are welcome, and we love seeing the albums, journals and books you make over the course of the month.
This month's sponsor, as I mentioned, is Stencil Girl.
Check out their amazing products here, and the Stencil Girl blog and YouTube channel for extra inspiration. They are offering a $25 gift voucher to our winner, and you might also be showcased as one of the Mini Album Makers' top picks, so do come and play along.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon.
Cross the meadow and the stream and listen as the peaceful water brings peace upon your soul.
Maximilian Degenerez
I'd like to share this at Words & Paintery where the theme is No Rain, No Flowers - with all the flowers and the rainy day colours, I think this should fit right in.
I'm retrospectively linking this to the Simply Neutrals Tuesday party over at Apple Apricot. Older posts are just as welcome as new ones, and Wen's use of pressed flowers in her creation reminded me of this, so I thought I'd share it there (April 2019)
