Dear to the Heart

Today were again moving forward on our Collage Tissue journey.
I am so in love with today super simple project and I hope you love it too (at least enough to try some of the techniques).
When I went into the craft room today I had no idea what I was going to do with the Collage Tissue this time.  So after a few minutes of thinking (okay, 45 minutes and I walked in and out of the room about 27 times) I got out some 7gypsies book covers and found this embossed one, called Art Nouveau.  That book cover was the catalyst for the rest of today's Collage Tissue project.

1.  Paint the center circle of the book cover with Claudine Hellmuth Matte Medium, making sure to paint all the way to the black embossed edge and not over it.  NOTE: Work quickly to avoid the matte medium from drying before the next step.

2.  Lay a piece of 7gypsies Collage Tissue - Life, over the circle.  Press down with the palm of your hand to adhere.  You can use a brayer, but be sure the the brayer is free of any stickiness so as not to rip the paper since at this stage the Tissue is very delicate.  Let the Tissue dry (you can use a heat gun, you know I did).

3.  Use an X-Acto knife to cut along the embossed black edge.  It's easier to cut than you might think, just go slow and make sure your knife is sharp.

4.  Paint another coat of the matte medium over the circle to seal.  Let dry.

you can see in after the top coat that the tissue becomes somewhat transparent.

5.  While the center circle is drying, cover the inside of the back cover with more tissue using the same method.  Once the cover circle is dry, repeat on the inside of the front cover.

6.  Punch both covers with the Binderie Punch.

Next step....what to do with the circle?  Think some more....need metal something.  I try about 10 things, no good.  Then I think about the NEW 7gypsies corners. Okay, that might work.

How new are they you ask?  Well, they're so new they are not even on the market yet!  So this part might be a little difficult since they will not be available till the end of the month.  The corners were really made for the trays but can be used on anything as you will see here.   They come in antique brass and silver.  This is antique brass on the left.  And on the right I sanded it a bit to bring out the raised portion.

7.  I cut out a copy of a photo of my parents and adhered it to the Tissue circle with matte medium.  Once dry, I painted a second coat over the top and added the text cut from a book.  NOTE:  for the picture you must have a copy made with a toner cartridge copier (no ink-jet printer copies), otherwise the ink will smear when you brush on the matte medium to seal it.

8.  I tested the Display trim corner above but thought, why not take it a step further and add a little Alcohol Ink.  So as you can see I used Current, Pool and Butterscotch to color the corner.

9.  Then gave it a little sanding to bring out the raised portion.  Now I can add them back on the book cover.

10.  I didn't really have the right color ribbon on hand so I thought I could just make some with a Distress Stain.  I started with a piece of off white seam binding.

11.  Dab on some Distress Stain - Broken China (very random).

12.  Sprayed it right away with some Perfect Pearls Mists - Heirloom Gold.  If you don't want to use the Perfect Pearls Mists then just use water in a mini mister.  Both soften the color of the Distress Stain and make it bleed a bit to give the ribbon a more watercolor look. 
I picked up the ribbon, wiped up the excess from the craft mat with a towel then put it back down to dry (with the heat gun of course).

Here is the finished product.

13.  So the last step is to add the ribbon to the cover.  Of course I added rings and some journal pages too.  I almost forgot about the stamps paper tape.  My favorite paper tape ever!

Now I just need to work on the inside!

Cheers,

paula