Swallowtail Altered Book Box & Card Designed By: Michelle Joy Wecksler February 2014 This Swallowtail Altered Book Box and Card is perfect way to transform an unused hardcover book into a beautiful gift! This set features an altered hardcover book and a coordinating gift card. This elegant box provides a special place to store a secret gift, a small journal, or other cherished keepsakes! This set would make a wonderful gift for a treasured friend! Swallowtail Altered Book Box Instructions Step 1 Find a hardcover book to alter. The size of the book used in the project is approximately 9-1/4 tall, 6-1/4 deep and 1-1/2 thick. Place a piece of waxed paper or freezer paper in between the inside of the front cover and the first cover page. Next, with the book closed, use a paintbrush to brush matte medium or matte gel medium along the edge of all of the pages. Once the page edges are painted with medium, place a very heavy object on top of the book and allow the pages to dry.
Step 1 Step 2 Once the pages are dry, use a ruler and a pencil to draw a rectangle on the glued down cover page inside the book. This rectangle marks the size of the hollow you will be cutting out of your book. For the book shown in the photographs, the lines were drawn ½ in from all four sides. Use a hand drill and a 3/16 drill bit to drill holes in the four corners of the drawn rectangle. This will make it a lot easier to cut out the pages to create your box since you won t have to worry about cutting into the corners perfectly at a 90 degree angle. Drill the hole to the depth you want your box compartment to be. In order to avoid drilling too deep, use a piece of masking tape to mark your drill bit at the depth you want. Then, each time you drill a hole, only drill to where the cover page will meet the masking tape on your drill bit. Step 2
Step 3 Using an X-acto knife (#11 blade) or a box cutter and a metal ruler, cut along the inside of the drawn lines, trying to keep your blade as straight as possible. Cut through a few pages at a time and be patient. You may want to do this in a number of sittings since cutting through all of the pages may take a little time. The greater your patience with this step, the better your end result since your edges will be smoother and straighter than if you rushed. As you are cutting through the pages, remove the cut pages and the bits of paper that will undoubtedly be created by the cutting process. Once all of the pages are cut out to your desired depth, use a paintbrush to brush the cut edges with matte medium or gel medium. Place a piece of waxed paper between the cover and the cut pages and then place a heavy object on top of the book cover. Set aside to dry. Once dry, paint the outside and inside page edges with gold acrylic paint. I used Lumiere True Gold light body metallic acrylic by Jacquard. Set aside to dry. Step 3 Step 4 Cut two 5-3/4 x 9-1/4 pieces of Natural Composition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP). Sponge the edges of the DSP with Soft Suede ink. Using matte gel medium and a paintbrush, adhere one of the pieces to the inside front cover of the book and the other piece to the top page of the hollowed out area. Set aside to dry. Step 4 Step 5 Using an X-acto knife or box cutter, cut an X into the center of the DSP that you glued down over the hollow in the book. Make sure you stop cutting when you get close to the edge of the hollow. Cut out the excess DSP with the blade. If you still have remaining excess, bend the excess DSP against the edge of the hollow to create a crease in the DSP. Then, use your blade to cut along the crease in order to create a clean edge. Sponge the
edges with Soft Suede ink. To seal the DSP so that it does not get damaged you can paint over the DSP with Liquitex gloss medium & varnish. Note: Sealing the DSP with the gloss varnish will reduce the shininess of the raised patterns in the DSP. I chose to seal the DSP on the edge of the hollow, but not the DSP on the inside of the front cover. Allow the varnish to dry. Step 5 Step 6 Measure the bottom of the hollow and cut a piece of Brushed Gold card stock to that measurement. For the book in the photo, the inside measurement was 5 x 8-3/16. Using gel medium and a paintbrush, adhere the Brushed Gold card stock to the bottom of the hollow. Let dry. Once dry, seal the Brushed Gold card stock by applying a layer of gel medium to the top of the card stock. Set aside to dry. Step 6
Step 7 Cut a 5-3/4 x 9-1/4 and a 1-1/4 x 9-1/4 piece of Natural Composition Specialty DSP. Sponge the edges of the DSP pieces with Soft Suede ink. Using matte gel medium and a paintbrush, adhere the larger piece to the front cover of the book and the smaller piece to the spine of the book. Set aside to dry. Once dry, if you want to seal the book, apply a coat of Liquitex gloss medium & varnish to the cover and the spine. Note: sealing the DSP with the gloss varnish will reduce the shininess of the raised patterns in the DSP. I chose to seal the DSP on the book in the photo. Allow the varnish to dry. If you sealed the front cover and to add texture back to the front cover, swipe the front cover with an Embossing Buddy. Next, stamp the floral image from the Morning Meadow stamp set onto the front cover using VersaMark ink. Sprinkle with clear Stampin Emboss Powder and tap off. Heat emboss using your heat tool. Step 7 Step 8 Stamp the Swallowtail background stamp onto a piece of Window Sheet or acetate using Jet Black StazOn ink. Let dry. Place some Dazzling Details onto a piece of freezer paper, add a drop of Tempting Turquoise reinker to the Dazzling Details and mix the ink in with a toothpick. Using a small paintbrush, paint the stamped side of the butterfly, filling in areas that you would like. Repeat the same process using Dazzling Details and Perfect Plum reinker, filling in additional areas on the butterfly. Finally, use a uni-ball Signo Gel Pen to fill in remaining areas on the stamped side of the butterfly. Allow time for all of the ink and Dazzling Details to dry. Step 8 Step 9 Once the butterfly is dry, use a paintbrush to apply gel medium to the colored and stamped side of the butterfly. Adhere a piece of kraft colored tissue paper to the gel medium and smooth to remove any creases. Set aside to
dry. Once dry, cover the back of the tissue paper with a coat of gel medium to seal the butterfly and protect it from any water damage. Set aside to dry. Once dry, cut out the butterfly using Paper Snips. Step 9 Step 10 It is now time to sculpt the butterfly! Hold the wings together and, using your Heat Tool, direct the heat at the center of the butterfly body. Be careful to not heat the acetate too much as you do not want to burn or melt it. Once you heat the center of the butterfly, continue to hold the wings together and turn the heat tool off. Keep holding the wings together until the butterfly has cooled. Once the butterfly has cooled and you release the wings, the wings should remain in an upright position! If you want to increase the angle of the wings you can reheat and cool until you are satisfied with how the butterfly looks. Adhere a small pinecone to the end of a twig that is approximately the length from one corner of the front cover to the corner diagonally across from it on the front cover. Adhere the twig to the cover of the book using gel medium and set aside to dry. Next, using gel medium, adhere the butterfly to the twig. Set aside to dry. Step 10 Step 11 Using gold acrylic paint (the paint used in the photos is Lumiere True Gold light body metallic acrylic by Jacquard) paint four plain wood acorn dowel caps (1-3/8 hole) and set aside to dry. Once dry place the acorn dowel caps in the four corners of the back cover and use gel medium to adhere them to the back cover of the book. These dowel caps will act as the feet for your altered book box.
Step 11 Step 12 Stamp the dare to dream, happiness, and imagine sentiments from the Loving Thoughts stamp set onto scraps of kraft colored tissue paper using Jet Black StazOn ink. Allow the ink to dry and then tear out the sentiments from the kraft tissue paper. Adhere the stamped tissue paper pieces to the front book cover using Liquitex gloss medium & varnish. Set aside to dry. Once dry, add a coat of the Liquitex gloss medium & varnish over the tissue paper pieces to seal them. Step 13 Place a small dab of black acrylic paint on a piece of freezer paper and add some water to dilute the paint. Using a paintbrush, pick up some of the paint and then tap the paintbrush over the front cover of the book to create splatter marks on the book cover. Set aside to dry. You are done with your altered book box! Coordinating Gift Card Instructions Step 13 Step 1 Cut a 10 x 5 piece of Basic Black card stock. Score and fold in half to create a 5 x 5 card. Cut a 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 piece of Natural Composition Specialty DSP. Sponge the edges of the DSP with Soft Suede ink and adhere to the front of the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue.
Step 1 Step 2 Swipe a piece of Very Vanilla card stock with an Embossing Buddy to remove static. Stamp the Swallowtail background stamp onto the piece of Very Vanilla card stock using VersaMark ink. Sprinkle with black Stampin Emboss Powder, tap off and heat emboss using a Heat Tool. Cut out the butterfly using Paper Snips. Squeeze Perfect Plum and a Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin Pads in order to create ink blots on the inside of the ink pad lids. Using an Aqua Painter, pick up ink from the inside of the pad lids and color in the butterfly as you would like. Use your uni-ball Signo gel pen to fill in any remaining spaces on the butterfly. Set aside to dry. Once dry, apply 2-Way Glue to random spots on the butterfly and sprinkle over the glue with Dazzling Diamonds Stampin Glitter. Tap off and set aside to dry. Step 2 Step 3 Adhere the butterfly to the card front using Glue Dots. Swipe a 4 x ½ piece of Natural Composition Specialty DSP with an Embossing Buddy to remove static. Stamp the Wonderful You sentiment from the Loving Thoughts stamp set onto the card stock using VersaMark ink. Sprinkle with black Stampin Emboss Powder, tap off and heat emboss using a Heat Tool. Cut banner ends on both ends of the card stock strip and then sponge the edges of the strip with Soft Suede ink. Adhere the banner to the card by placing a double layer of Stampin Dimensionals on the left end of the banner, a single Stampin Dimensional at the center of the banner and some Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the right end of the banner. Cut a 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 piece of Crumb Cake card stock and sponge the edges with Soft Suede ink. Place a small dab of black acrylic paint on a piece of freezer paper and add some water to dilute the paint. Using a paintbrush, pick up some of the paint and then tap
the paintbrush over the Crumb Cake card stock to create splatter marks. Set aside to dry. Once dry, adhere the Crumb Cake card stock to the inside of the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue. You are done!!! Step 3
Materials: Stampin Up! Supplies: Item # Price (1) Natural Composition Specialty DSP Soft Suede Classic Stampin Pad 126978 $5.95 (1) 6 x 6 Window Sheet Tempting Turquoise Stampin Pad 126952 5.95 (1) 6 x 6 Kraft Colored Tissue Paper Perfect Plum Stampin Pad 126963 5.95 (2) 5-3/4 x 9-3/4 Natural Composition DSP Basic Black 8-½ x 11 Card Stock 121045 6.95 (1) 5 x 8-3/16 Brushed Gold Card Stock Very Vanilla 8-½ x 11 Card Stock 101650 8.50 (1) 5-3/4 x 9-1/4 Natural Composition DSP Brushed Gold 8-½ x 11 Card Stock 102935 7.95 (1) 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 Natural Composition DSP Crumb Cake 8-½ x 11 Card Stock 120953 6.95 (1) 1-1/4 x 9-1/4 Natural Composition DSP Natural Composition Specialty DSP 126917 12.95 (1) 6 x 6 Very Vanilla Card Stock Loving Thoughts Stamp Set 125845 23.95 (1) 4 x ½ Natural Composition DSP Morning Meadow Stamp Set 129678 10.00 (1) 10 x 5 Basic Black Card Stock Swallowtail Background Stamp 131943 17.95 (1) 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 Crumb Cake Card Stock Stampin Dimensionals 104430 3.95 Multipurpose Liquid Glue 110755 3.95 Non-Stampin Up! Paper Snips 103579 9.95 Hardcover Book Stamping Sponges 101610 3.50 Twig Embossing Buddy 103083 5.95 Matte Medium Heat Tool 129053 29.95 Matte Gel Medium Clear Stampin Emboss Powder 109130 4.75 Small Pinecone Black Stampin Emboss Powder 109133 4.75 Kraft Colored Tissue Paper VersaMark Pad 102283 7.50 Paintbrush Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad 101406 7.95 Wax Paper/Freezer Paper Window Sheets 114323 4.95 Black Acrylic Paint Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin Ink Refill 101041 2.95 Hobby Blade or X-acto Knife Perfect Plum Classic Stampin Ink Refill 102107 2.95 Metal Ruler Dazzling Details 124117 2.50 Pencil Dazzling Diamonds Stampin Glitter 102023 4.50 Lumiere True Gold Light Body Metallic Acrylic 2-Way Glue Pen 100425 4.50 Paint by Jacquard/Gold Acrylic Craft Paint Plain Wood Acorn Dowel Caps (x4) (1-3/8 hole) Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen 105021 3.95 Heavy Weight/Object To Weight Down Book When Aqua Painters 103954 16.95 Gluing Hand Drill/Power Drill with 3/16 Drill Bit Glue Dots 103683 4.95 Masking Tape (optional) Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish Toothpick