Don't Judge This Book's Cover(s) ... Please!

Okay, so I packaged up Cathy's Journal last night and I have it all set to go out in today's Priority Mail. I guess that means it's time to post the pictures of the outside front and back covers for all to see.

(nervous drum roll please...)

Here is an overall shot of the outside of the Journal. After applying some gesso to the original cover, I painted it with some acrylics which I then found myself wholly dissatisfied with. I therefore decided to re-cover the front with a collage of decorative papers which I quickly decided looked too crafty. So, I went back and gessoed over that and began once again with a new application of acrylics over the whole thing.

So, here's what the front turned into after I finished my many applications of acrylics and added the few embellishments I decided to use. There are some puzzle pieces, of course, to keep with the puzzle theme, and a small border of colored rhinestones to add just a little bit of sparkle.

I also used one of my favorite kind of collage elements - globs of dried acrylics that I peeled off of my old palate papers from some of my past attempts at painting.

By far, my favorite part of the Journal is in the upper right-hand corner of the Journal's cover. The little PaperClay face with the butterfly wings soaring above everything and leaving a beautiful and bright trail of inspiration and creative energy is, to me, the perfect little muse to aid Cathy in all of her creative endeavors.

All in all, I am happy with the way the Journal came together. It's nothing at all like I envisioned it would be when I first started - it definitely took on a life of it's own sometime during the creation process and, while I fought that at first, once I gave in and let the piece guide me to the place it wanted to go, I learned a great deal and very much enjoyed the experience. Now I just hope that Cathy likes it too!