Tunnel of Love Book

 This past August my baby sister walked down the aisle.  One of the wedding games was a fun musical chair, search the crowd for items, game.  Well, I got picked to play and represent my lovely sister.  Alas, I did not win (I let a flower girl win ;) Anyways, participants were given a month throughout the year to send postcards to the newly wed couple, I received February.  Well, y'all know I don't do postcards, something about the flat thing just trips me up LOL.  So, this is what I created a Tunnel book filled with love poems for her using the fabulous new Alpha Stamps kit.

The album comes with one page cut for the window and a number of additional whole pages.  I decided to make a tunnel book so I cut arches in each page, but the last one.  The arches get smaller and smaller the further into the book you go.  

HERE is a list of a number of the supplies I used.

The cover page is thicker than all the other pages so that I could dangle the birds without them hitting the window or damaging the pages behind them.  To hide the ugly sides of the foam core I wrapped the foam using brown seam binding.  The birds are hanging on fishing line.

 I painted each page with distress paints in various shades.  I also used some acrylics I had on hand to get the shades just right.  I was attempting to match the background color with the torn paper bits (Friendship, Charmed, Petite moments and Adorn papers) you see on each page.  

To finish off the background each page is randomly stamped with various stamps, Boho Paisley clear stamp, Old letter writing rubber stamp (on every page), Fleur De Lis Bird and Arrow Clear Stamp Set, Damask Study Clear Stamp (all stamps found on link above).

 Birds on branches frame this pages window arch.

 And you know I had to pull out my Ice Resin and make some goodies.  The flourishes are molded from the Architectural Flourishes Mold.  The heart is a mold I made from a charm I had laying around.  To add a bit of depth to the colors of the pieces I brushed on some Lumiere Metallic Gold, I also brushed this onto all the flowers throughout the entire book.

  On each page is printed a love poem (or part of one).  The text was printed using my printer onto Provence French Quarter 12x12 paper which I then cut out and placed on each page.  

This is a snipet from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.

 A strip of Provincial Cobblestone 12x12 paper binds the inner pages together.  I must thank Tristan Robin Blackman of Enchanted Revelries for helping me with how to bind the massively 3D pages.  

 Check out how the scene in the arch changes with each turn of a page!  

This page features an image from the Mischievous Cupid Collage Sheet that I have loved and not had a use for until this project, heck, I probably did this entire project just so I could use this image.  

 Bunches and bunches of flowers!

The edge of each of the torn pages has been rubbed with Antique Linen Distress Ink (leaving it white was too harsh even though there was white on many of the papers).  

A portion of [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in)] by e.e. cummings (one of my personal favorites) is on this page.  

 Just a note on the order of steps for the background pages.  I started by painting the pages all an off white, then stamped before adding the color.  The papers went on next and finally a light brushing of white over everything.  

 Roses from the Pink Roses Collage sheet are highlighted on the third page.  A bit of chipboard balcony with Ice Resin pots filled with flowers finishes off the page.

 This is the first time I have mixed Acrylic paint into my Ice resin and I like the result.  It is flat (unlike powders that I typically add) but a bit of the gold paint fixed that right up.  It would also serve as a great piece to add a rub-on or sticker to.   

Y'all see that fabulous stitched leaf ribbon in a lot of my pieces.  I just love the stuff.  So of course the chipboard balcony had to have some growing on it.  

 A bit of William Blake's The Clod and the Pebble is featured on this page.  

When pulling a book together that has images you can see the backs of, make sure you cover them with pretty paper, it just takes it the extra mile in my opinion.  

 

 This page was fun, and different, to pull together, because I needed an entire scene instead of just window framing.  

 The new Leafy corners chipboard adds a bit of a frame to the top portion of the page.  I enhanced it with some fern garland and small pale pink mulberry blossoms.

 Images from the Vintage Postcard Faries Collage Sheet are all over this page along with some columns from the Garden Columns Collage Sheet.

 The final poem is by Eliza Acton a section of her I Love Thee poem.  

I'm sure you realized that this is one thick book with all those embellishments.  So there was a massive side panel to decorate.  I used a large image from The balcony Collage Sheet.  Hid the fact that it doesn't reach the top of bottom with torn bits of paper and added a small bird.  

The embellishments on the front cover spill over onto the side.  To me it looks like the vines from the image are wrapping around to the front. 

One last look at the tunnel.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

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