Altered Book Swap Pages-All About Wings

A small group of close friends decided to start an altered book swap.  Each month, we trade our books with each other to be artfully altered.  There are eight of us, so at the end of the

eight-month period, we each will have our very own, beautifully altered book.  The best part, however, is that we come away with a part of each other that we can treasure always. 

I am so pleased how my pages turned out, I just had to share.  For my first offering, I made what is sometimes called a "tip in" page.  By doing this type of page, I could work on it completely outside of the book.  The pages are made from one 12"x12" piece of Prima "Fairy Belle" scrapbook paper that I cut down to the size of the book's pages, and folded in the center.  Hence, my scrapbook page measured 12"across x 9" high, before folding in half to measure 6" x 9".  Before working on the page(s), I made a second score line approximately 1/4" in from the folded edge, to allow for placing double sided tape between the folds for later adhering into the book. By scoring a second time, this will relieve pressure on the spine where I will later adhere the page into the book.  


The fairy on these inside pages (pages 2 and 3) were already printed on the paper, so all I had to do was decorate her with tiny ribbon and gems,  fussy cut papers, and use a paper tole technique (described below) to add dimension.  I also added Prima flowers and gems, a punched butterfly, and a pop up butterfly in the center.  

  If you look closely in this picture (page 1 of 4), you will see the 1/4" wide strip of adhesive that I placed down the fold.  It still has the white release paper on it.  I used  Miracle Tape from Viva Las Vegas Stamps.  This is a truly fantastic adhesive.  By placing it on the folded edge first, it reminded me not to go any closer to the folded edge with my image placement, as it would be lost when later adhered to the spine of the book.

Page 4, or the last page of the tip in, is shown here.  Again, you can see where I placed the adhesive tape along the folded edge.  Pages 1 and 4 are the back side of the Prima paper, and it was only printed with a dotted background.  I used a paper tole technique throughout these pages, attempting to give dimension to otherwise flat printed paper.  I fussy cut all of the images, embossed them on a piece of foam with a large ball stylus, and then arranged them in a pleasing manner, using pop dots to raise them.  The butterfly was punched from a scrap of the decorative paper, and I used a Martha Stewart branch punch for the flower fillers.  The gold butterflies are from Clearsnap's Design Adhesives rubons and then gold foil applied to the adhesive shapes.  I also used an EK Success rose vine punch for the vertical climbing flower bush.  

I know it is hard to see the dimension clearly, but here is a side view of the central page.  Can you see the butterfly floating off the page in the center of the book.  I used a clear piece of acetate for the pop up structure.  The butterfly floats off the page when you open the book.  Pretty cool.  


Well, as always, I hope you enjoyed my somewhat "long-winded" description.  And I love comments, so if you have time, please leave me one.  Thanks for stopping by.