PATH OF LOVE ALTERED BOOK (COVER)
By: Barbara Matthiessen

Materials: Supplies for niche: Clamps Heavy gel medium Paintbrush or palette knife Cutting mat Craft knife with fresh blades Supplies for cover: 2 photocopies of garden paths sized to fit most of book cover Opalite™ Golden Mist inkpad Tassel rubber stamp, All Night Media® Pixie Affirmations rubber stamp set, PSX® Matte decoupage medium (Aleene’s® Instant Decoupage) Paintbrush

Instructions: Choose a book to alter: · Choose a hardbound book with at least 200 pages. · Check the paper in the book to make sure it will not dissolve or crumble. Pulp type books or those with tissue thin pages will be difficult to work with and most techniques will not be possible. · Check to see if there are interesting text, drawings or photographs you will want to incorporate into your designs. Book Preparation Prepare your book by cutting away 25% of the pages. Remove pages throughout the book using a cutting mat and craft knife. Place mat under pages to be removed pressing edge up tightly to center of book, place straight edge next to book center then use craft knife to cut pages away. Save removed pages. Niches Create 2 niches ¼” to ½” deep using the method below. Wrap parts of book that will not be used for the niche in plastic wrap to protect them. Make one niche at a time. 1. Clamp pages together to make desired depth of niche. Allow for a couple pages behind the niche to be free, they will form the background. 2. Brush gel medium across all outside page edges. Be generous with gel medium. Set aside to dry. 3. Cut niches by placing a cutting mat under the block of pages then using a very sharp craft knife and metal straight edge cut through all pages. For Red Devotion Page Spread cut a large niche allowing at least 1” border of solid pages on all sides. Cut 2 ½”-3” x 4”-5” and 1 ¼” x 2” niches for Purple Passion Page Spread. 4. Spread gel medium onto cut page edges sealing inside edges of niche. Path of Love Cover Instructions: 1. Computer generate or use a copier to make photocopies of personal photographs sized to fit book cover except binding. (I used personal photographs to escape the copyright issue.) Brush decoupage medium onto book cover and backside of photocopy. Place copy onto book cover and smooth into place working from the center out to the edges. Topcoat with decoupage medium. Set aside to dry. 2. Stamp Tassel and Affirmations along binding using Opalite™ Golden Mist. Stamp words across photocopy using Opalite™ Golden Mist.