Nov 6, 2009

Whee! Can you die of art overload? Because I just might from visiting all the sites of people who have stopped by recently. Stamping, art dolls, paintings, paper crafting, images...so many different sources of ispiration. When I started my own blog I hadn't counted on this side effect - and I feel so lucky to "find" new blogs this way.

Okay, new technique. Actually this is very basic. There are other versions of this, but this one is quick and simple. To get the faded text background in my "Childhood" ATC (yes, that's me), I simply applied masking tape to a page from a book (a rather trashy novel that happened to have a nice font found at the dollar store).
Then peel away. Repeat as you like.
Here's the end result - a little worn and faded looking, perfect for a background affect.
Speaking of finding cheap materials, I popped into the used bookstore the other day and found this amazing star guide that has this brilliant blue color in many of its illustrations.

I used it to make this background:
I also picked up a basic thesaurus. Look at all those words!!! Just begging to be clipped and pasted onto an ATC.

And here's a French dictionary and an old literature book. I purposefully looked for the books with aged pages.
How about you? What material finds are you particularly happy to have come across?

Still looking for more entries for our landscape-themed challenge (scroll below)!

8 comments:

Eugenia said...

Hey Steph, thanks for the masking tape tip. The old books that you found do look yummy. Text makes such a wonderful addition to my collages, it's amazing. I love old, worn looking elements. So funny how I've changed, my daugter's newly adopted chihuahua decided that my pretty area rug was a delicacy and chewed off the corners. At first I was really upset, now I kind of like the worn look, odd. Oh yeah, very very cute picture of you!

Dorthe said...

Thanks for all your great ideas Steff,- this peeling tecnick is just wonderfull, and so are the others shown. I love old books with beautifull text and -or pictures too, and collects them as often I can.
Have a great week-end-

Dorthe

Vel said...

I LOVE the look of old book pages and use them whenever I can...but I never would've thought of the masking tape technique. Thanks so much for sharing that with us.

I always tell people if it's old books they're looking for you should really try auctions. Lots of times you can find a big box of old books and get them cheap. :)

Samantha Marshall said...

Cool technique, Stephanie.

Nancy said...

What a great idea, using the masking tape like that! Thank you!

kathy said...

Loved visiting your blog -- Thanks for fun and some that I had forgotten, techniques -- Kathy - ga

Julie said...

I found an old German book (that is, an old book in German, using the old timey German font) at our library's Friends' book sale (Woo-hoo! It's gorgeously ornate! And less than a dollar!) and have been trying to figure a way to work pages of it into my projects. Thanks for the reminder of the masking tape technique!

Ella said...

ooooh, love your finds! Thanks for sharing your tips...I love 2nd hand book stores...love the bright blue, makes the image, pop!