Tando Sponsor Spotlight No.1

Hi Everyone, 

          Jan here to welcome you to our first Spotlight 

                                on Tando Creative for August!

I was really excited to receive a Mechanical Book Cover Kit, Screws, Locks and Keys and was all set for a Steampunk themed book.

                                                 BUT

When I took it out of the packaging I imagined a porthole, a shipwreck and a mermaid!

                                                                                                              Sooooooo........

I started playing with my Dylusions Sprays in shades of blue then added a Sparkle of Perfect Pearls.
Bubbles were needed for the mermaid so I used a TH thinlets die and put Grunge Paste through. When it was dry I re sprayed. I love the sparkling, shimmer of the ocean!

The shipwreck wood was next for treatment. Everything had a coat of white gesso to start. I sanded, cut planks, scored and roughened the board. I used my Prima distressing tool mainly for this job. The first coat of paint was Iced Spruce DP, then Black Antiquing Medium from DecoArt, dabbed off with a baby wipe.

These are the paints and the Prima tool I used, with the baby wipe and the spine of the book.

The next layer was to be eroded metal. I dabbed a layer of Texture Sand, DecoArt, then Quinacradon Gold Paint when the paste was dry. (This is that stage in the photo.)The Antiquing Medium was painted on then wiped off until I was happy with the look. A touch of green Treasure Gold gave a hint of old copper patina.

I stamped some Prima seaweed with Black Archival around the edges to give the impression that the wreck was on the sea floor and had been there some time.

The Prima mermaid was stamped with Archival onto tracing paper then coloured with Distress Pens. I put white on the back because the colours were not as bright as I wanted them to be.

Finally I put the front cover together with Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue and used clamps to hold all the layers together until dry. The board certainly held up to rough handling and didn't warp!

This is a work in progress, the back cover is distressed like the shipwreck. I am planning to create a sea side photo book for my Granddaughter and will assemble the book when I have collected all this years photos.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the stages, it was a fun project. 

There is plenty of time to join in the summer challenge at

 Our Creative Corner

                                             Mexican Moods