Recently I was at a garage sale and found a book that needed rescuing. So of course it came home with me.

She’s been through it and definitely needs a makeover. The bones are good though…a sewn in binding and heavy pages.

I removed the middle page from each signature to start. This is the absolute minimum in my opinion with how I tend to journal. I can’t seem to help myself and build lots of layers on each page.  I’ll likely remove a few more pages along the way as it gets too bulky.

As you can see I immediately starting the process of making my journal bulky…like I said…I can’t help myself.

I started by using acrylic paints and my fingers to lay down some background color. In addition I used some ancient tattered angels glimmer mist in blue to create some splatters.

I had picked the illustration before picking my background colors. I layered papers across the bottom of the two pages then tucked the illustration slightly behind the mulberry paper.

The opposite side was begging for a bit more color to make it more cohesive. I found the bit of die cut scrapbook paper in my basket along with a flower.  Next I looked through my mini drawer of found text and these words seemed to fit what I was going for. I wanted a tiny butterfly but couldn’t find one precut in my stash. I fussy cut this tiny butterfly from an ephemera tag. I’m impressed that my glasses worked well enough to see. At this point I thought I was done…put my date stamp in the corner and brought it upstairs to photograph. Only then did I realize that it was missing something…and that something was lace trim across the top. I liked it before but now I love my first page in my mystery journal.

I’m linking up with Try it on Tuesday: Animals-Real/Imaginary