Smeared Ink Monday

Welcome and Good Monday Morning!!

I don't know about you, but I always feel a void of sorts when I'm away from my studio.  In a perfect world I'd have 24 extra hours a day to spend JUST in my studio.  Alas...not so much.  However, I've been thinking about ways to make my art more 'portable' if you will.

So...I created what I'm calling my Smeared Ink Coloring Book.

 Don't fool yourself, this is not your child's coloring book!  I used all of the major images from all of my sets:

• Nymphs
• Carnies
• Li'l Grumpies
• Chicks Dig Guns
• Killer Bo Peep
• Elementals
• A couple of digi images that I have

I used the large images centered on my coloring pages and then intend to fill in the space around them with wherever the mood takes me.  Sentiments, accents and/or accessories from my wide variety of sets.  

I had a thick piece of cardboard that I measured and created into my cover.  I wanted it to be very sturdy as it's going to be popped into my tote along with my new Prismacolor pencils for maximum portability. 

I used a 12x12 piece of gorgeous blue Basic Grey paper as my covering for my book.  I glued the paper on with Aileen's Tacky Glue and set it aside with a heavy book on top of it to dry. 

My pages were first altered between white and cream cardstock and then cut to size.  I punched a hole all together using my Big Bite from Crop-o-Dile.  There are roughly 25+ pages in the coloring book leaving room for more!! 

Each image was inked using Momento Ink in Tuxedo black in the event that I feel sassy and want to bring some Copics with me. 

Once my cover was dry, I set to decorating it.  I wanted to keep it relatively simple and crisp looking.  I didn't want too much dimension as I didn't want things falling off as the book was taken out or put back into my tote.  I wanted to use vintage elements so I grabbed a few washers off of my husband's work bench and the label from one of my Great Grandmother's spools of thread.  The small, dangly metal tag that's being held onto the large washer by the maroon ribbon says "inspire" on it. 

I stamped the frame from the Nymphs set with Tim Holtz ink in Tea Dye and then the Not For The Timid sentiment in the center using Tim Holtz ink in Broken China.  I  trimmed it out and adhered it to the cover.

My last embellishment was a glittery, chipboard 'M'. 

I then threaded a large 3-ring through the entire book and voila...my Smeared Ink portable coloring book.  I was going to ribbon up the 3-ring but figured I will eventually be adding new pages to the book and if the ring is covered in ribbon that would make it most difficult to open and close.   

I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith