Hi Everyone! I’m back!! It’s Nadya here today.  If you have seen any of my art, you will notice that I often use inspirational sayings for those who seek daily life reflection. Well, sometimes I just don’t feel like seeing those quotes, sometimes my thoughts are a little — less kind. So for this month’s project, I decided to create the anti-inspirational book, a little sarcastic humour to get us through long days at work, home, or whereever your day  takes you and when you feel like you need a little laugh.

Supplies Used:
Joggles Accordion Book – 5″ x 5″ – 10 Panels
Joggles Collage Sheets – The Oddfellows [JG401009]
Liquitex Matte Medium – 8 ounces [5108]
Dina Wakley Media White Gesso – 4oz Jar
Dylusions 9×12″ Stencil – Number Jumble [DYS33998]
Dylusions Ink Spray – Bubblegum Pink
Dylusions Ink Spray – Lemon Zest
Adirondack Color Wash – Lettuce
Adirondack Color Wash – Stream
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Barn Door [TDW 30997]
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Festive Berries [TDW36128]
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Ripe Persimmon [TDW36180]
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Picked Raspberry [TDW36173]
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Picket Fence [TDW 31246]
Tim Holtz Distress Stains – Squeezed Lemonade [TDW36227]
Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paint – Lemon
Dina Wakley Media Stencil – Affirmations
Dina Wakley Media Stencil & Mask – Mod
Dylusions Unmounted Rubber Stamps – Say It How It Is [DYR37774]
Dylusions Unmounted Rubber Stamps – Further Round The Edge [DYR34513]
Fude Ball 1.5 mm Pen – Black
Archival Ink Pad – Jet Black
Ranger Heat It Craft Tool
Dina Wakley Media Brush -1/2”flat

Other: white cardstock, black cardstock, inkjet printer, scissors, ephemera (book paper, tissue paper etc.), wet wipes, water spray bottle, old gift card, cosmetic sponge, shipping tags (4 1/4” x 2 1/8”), turquoise green paint, washi tape, tape runner, masking tape.

My Process:

For this project, I decided to use the Joggles 5″ x 5″ – 10 Panel Accordion Book and create a fairly monochromatic background on the inner 8 panels. I dabbed Tim Holtz Festive Berries & Ripe Persimmon Distress Stains onto a craft mat, spritzed water on them, and then dragged the second and third panels through the stains.

I immediately dried the wet panels with my Ranger Heat It Craft Tool. Since these stains are water reactive, it is wise to dry the paper before you move on to the next step.

Next, I used Tim Holtz Festive Berries Distress Stain and the Dina Wakley Affirmations Media Stencil and, with a cosmetic sponge, randomly added words on the pages by sponging through the stencil openings.

Using my finger, I smudged Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Lemon Acrylic Paint randomly on the pages. I then sprayed Dylusions Lemon Zest Ink Spray through the Dylusions 9″ x 12″  Number Jumble Stencil onto the backgrounds.

I added some gesso beside the Lemon paint already on my craft sheet to use as white contrast. Placing my Dina Wakley Media Stencil & Mask – Mod randomly on the page, I used my fingers to put a little yellow and white around and inside the holes of the mask. There will be some blending of the stains and the paint with the gesso, and that’s okay.

I then repeated what I did on pages 2 & 3 to the rest of the pairs of panels, just alternating the distress stains listed and changing the placement as well as spraying patterns of the stencils to create different but unified panels of the book.

Now here’s a secret. Whenever I have any leftover paint on my craft sheet or ink spray left on the stencil, I don’t wipe it up and throw it away. NO! I just turn the page in my journal and add it to the blank pages. There are a few reasons for doing this: 1) you are not wasting any supplies, 2) no “blank page syndrome” & 3) it’s fun!

Next, I coloured 4 shipping tags. I scraped turquoise-green acrylic paint onto each tag, leaving some areas uncovered. Using the same number stencil, I sprayed both Adirondack Lettuce and Stream Color Wash, allowing the colours to blend together.

When the tags were completely dry, I double outlined them with a Black Fude Ball 1.5 mm Pen.

Using the Joggles Collage Sheet – The Oddfellows in combination with the Dylusions Unmounted Rubber Stamps – Say It How It Is was going to be fun! I chose and cut out 4 Oddfellows and chose corresponding rubber stamp quotes that I thought these characters would say. I knew that I
wanted the Oddfellows to remain black & white. I decided to really make the quotes stand out by cutting them out after stamping them on white cardstock and then matting them with black cardstock. Next I stamped borders around the perimeter of the 2 page panels using Dylusions Unmounted Rubber Stamps – Further Round The Edge and Jet Black Archival Ink .

Using a combination of tape runner and Liquitex Matte Medium, I gently applied the collage images on half of each tag. I adhered each tag & Oddfellow image to each of the four 2-page panels, then glued down the corresponding quotes. I embellished with some washi tape, and the inside pages were done.

I randomly covered the front & back panels of the accordion book with ephemera using Liquitex Matte Medium and allowing the edges of the paper to go off the pages on the three sides. When it was completely dry, I simply cut off the excess paper.

I applied gesso to both the front and back panels with an old gift card, making some marks while the gesso was still wet. Then I let it all dry.

Using 2 different alphabet stamp sets, I stamped out the letters to spell “serenity now!”, cut each one out, and matted them on black cardstock. (Those of you who watched Seinfeld will totally get the title. If you didn’t, it’s worth looking up!) Using Liquitex Matte Medium & my Dina Wakley Media Brush -1/2”flat, I adhered the letters to the front of the book. I also put a coat of matte medium on the back cover.

I wanted this accordion book to appear as a book with a spine. To accomplish this, I used masking tape and taped the middle folds together at the back on the blank pages.

I then secured the other pages to the already taped folds.

Lastly the front & back pages were bound together.

I cut off the excess tape on the sides and applied washi tape to cover the masking tape to finish off the book. Thank you for visiting today. I would love to hear what you think!