scrapologie : Venetian Dream - 7 Gypsies Stacked Accordion Project

I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; A palace and a prison on each hand; I saw from out the wave of her structure's rise As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand: A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around me, and a dying Glory smiles O'er the far times, when many a subject land Look'd to the winged Lion's marble pines, Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles. Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)

The sylphs and ondines And the sea-kings and queens Long ago, long ago, on the waves built a city, As lovely as seems To some bard in his dreams, The soul of his latest love-ditty. (Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton) ("Owen Meredith")

White swan of cities, slumbering in thy nest So wonderfully built among the reeds Of the lagoon, that fences thee and feeds, As sayeth thy old historian and thy guest!
Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Venice has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, from what I have read of it. It seems so ethereal, dreamy, romantic. I love that Seven Gypsies interpreted this beautiful city in their Venice Collection, which I used with the photos of Alekha taken at Epcot, below. Though it's not Venice, the photos complement the paper collection and certainly seem to evoke Venice. I created this book from Seven Gypsies' stacked accordion for the monthly project on the Gypsy Journal Blog.

The stacked accordion journal was perfect for the photos I have been saving of Alekha and our trip to the Italy Pavilion at Epcot. The colors and surroundings were beautiful and evocative of Venice, and the Venice papers fit perfectly for these photos. I wanted to make a book out of my stacked accordion journal, and wanted to give it an aged appearance, so I used Tim Holtz' grungeboard to fashion bindings for the book that imitated leather. It was easy - all I did was ink up the grungeboard layering ink colors, and then I applied clear embossing powder and heat set them. I then fastened them with brads that had the look of hammered metal. The cover was stamped with the Molto Bello stamp from the Venice Stamp set, and also heat set with clear embossing powder. I added the lovely aqua colored leaf from Prima and applied some gilt to it with Rub n Buff, a wax metallic finish product in Grecian Gold.

I completed the inside of the journal using Venice papers, Venice stamps, 97% Complete Stickers, Gaffer Tape, Paper Tape, and a few other stamps from my stash. I inked several of the pages and heat embossed all the stamped images.

Here's a quick tip: I have always loved the appearance of text in old books, and wish that I had a stack of blank aged book paper (I know they're probably not acid free, but if it's a concern you can always treat the pages with a deacidifying spray). I tear the blank pages from old books and run them through my printer to add my own customized journaling and fonts - without having to "age" the paper with inks, etc.