Collage Paper Altered Books

I have decided that I want to make some altered books for my coffee table for most holidays. This set was for my St. Patrick's Day decor.  I thought the Aviary Collage Paper from Tim Holtz Ideaology would be perfect for the main part of the book and the Plain Collage Paper for the binding. I started off by gathering some supplies.

Supplies: 
Old Books
Collage Paper -  Aviary and Plain
Distress Paint - Peeled Paint
Distress Collage Medium Matte
Distress Collage Brush
Salvaged Design Tape
Stamps of your choosing (I used an older Stampers Anonymous set called Sketch Elements CMS054 and the Worn Text CMS156 alphabet set)
Distress Embossing Ink
Ranger Superfine Gold Embossing Powder
Ground Espresso Distress Crayon
Gold Metallic Distress Crayon
Tarnished Brass Metallic Distress Spray
Crinkle Ribbon
Various Adornments or Die Cuts

The bindings on my books were red so I painted them green with Peeled Paint Distress Paint.

Then to make the de-embossed wording less prominent, I put some Plain Distress Collage Paper over the bindings with Distress Collage Medium.

I liked the grey color on this set of books, so I left it unpainted and just applied some of the Aviary Collage Paper. I tore it into pieces and then applied it with Distress Collage Medium.

I wanted the edges to look older and have a gold sheen since these are for St. Patrick's Day decor. First I applied some of the Gold Metallic Distress Crayon to the edges of the book pages, then I sprayed some of the Tarnished Brass Distress Stain over them with a brush and worked it in then quickly dried them so they wouldn't warp too much but would look fairly old.

This is probably a good time to explain my St Patrick's Day decor briefly. I decorate to celebrate Patrick's faith and life. So no leprechauns, rainbows or pots of gold in my decor. I use a lot of greens for Ireland, shamrocks, crosses, and touches of gold since our faith is precious to many of us.

Patrick was Scottish and was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish clans as a youngster. He escaped returned home, became a Christian, and later returned to Ireland as a missionary to share his faith with the very people who enslaved him. So to celebrate that, I chose the words FAITH, for his faith, FORGIVE, for the fact that he repented and asked for forgiveness of his sins and then in turn, he forgave those who had enslaved him, and then the word FOLLOW because he chose to follow Christ and to follow the call to go to Ireland.

This cool ornate stamp is on the Sketch Elements CMS054 set and I used it on the top and bottom of the binding on each side of the words which were stamped using the Worn Text CMS156 alphabet set. I stamped them onto the binding with Distress Embossing Ink and then covered them with Gold Superfine Embossing Powder from Ranger, then went over them with some Ground Espresso Distress Crayon when they were cool.
I love the look and think it looks really old!

I added a strip of Design Tape along the edge of the green part of the binding just to add a little interest, then I put some Ground Espresso Distress Crayon all around the edges of the book to age it.

I dyed some crinkle ribbon withthe Tarnished Brass Distress Stain and tied it around all three books.

Here you can see that gold shine on the page edges.

I often use Shamrocks in my decor, the three-leaved clover of Ireland since that is traditionally believed to be what St Patrick is said to have used to explain the trinity, but the four-leaf clover is rare and treasured much like Patrick's faith, so I'm very glad there is one in the Souvenir Adornments pack! I added some of the Alcohol Ink Gold Mixative to color it gold before attaching it with a cross below the bow. To make the cross I cut one of the Mini Ornate Crosses from the Movers and Shapers line out of black chipboard, then put Distress Embossing Ink on it and covered it in Gold Embossing Powder. I did this a couple of times and then aged it with Ground Espresso Distress Crayon.