Altered Birthday Card Art Journal Project

Earlier this year I was about to throw my birthday cards into the recycling bin when it occurred to me I could make a small art journal with them.  There were only four or five cards but two of them were tri-fold cards so it took a little while to figure out how all of them were going to fit together, especially when you also factor in that they were all different sizes too.

Anyway, I made a journal the simplest way I could think of and that was to use my decorative duct tape to hold it all together.  I don't really have the patience for more traditional binding techniques and I wanted to get on with the fun of doing some art journalling and collaging in it.  I had first taken all the cards and painted them front and back with a number of different types of paint.  Not all of the paint adhered well to the cards that had a slick surface but that was okay with me.  A bit of flaking paint just added to the character of each one I figured.

After duct taping everything together it was on to the fun of creating different pages.  I used (and re-used) a lot of elements that I had made some time ago or that were components from something else.  One of my goals/challenges for this journal was to try to use up as much stuff from my stash as I could.  I didn't want a particular theme for the journal, rather I wanted the pages to evolve individually as I went. 

The journal still has several pages to be done, but I thought I would share some of the pages that are (mostly) done.  It's been a fun project and I love going back to it now and then to get it just a bit closer to being completely finished.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy 2013!

Namaste!
Joanna