Making little notebooks

The insides of the notebooks - size A7, 3"x4.25" - are typing paper, cut in half and half again, then folded. The covers are cut slightly larger, and it's all sewn together with 5-hole pamphlet stitch.

The fun is in making the covers. I'm using cartridge paper from my collection of painting classes in years past, and leftover bits that received leftover paint. (So much frugality!)

These sheets are halfway there -

Several layers later, this one is almost ready -

 Transformed and ready to cut up -

 Cutting strips, then individual covers -

Large motifs in a small space -

The background of blocks of related color works well, as does the mix of colours on the stamp -

Layers of simple swirls made with a large brush -

More to come - from starting points like these, waiting to be painted up and made "pretty" -

Immediate transformation of the bright one, using white acrylic wiped on with a palette knife to cover the glaring areas, and lots of stamping with the favourite flower stamp. I put two colours (and sometimes a dollop of white) onto a small bit of foam for the "inkpad" and they blend on the stamp.

 Chopping it up into little bits makes for a lot of interesting fragments -

And from the other two half-painted papers -

Cut and the turned-under edges glued down ... ready to pierce and stitch -