First day of month is Eclectic Ellapu's!

Eclectic Ellapu is a design team that I belong to where we can do anything we want under the theme and which always just stretches me that little bit more to create something. This month was no exception as it was

Steampunk!

Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy—also in recent years a fashion and lifestyle movement—that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.

The plate reads - "reality has limits, imagination is boundless"

1. So, I decided to gather up all the Steampunk stuff I might have (you would be surprised what I did have - I was!) and then when I knew what I had I went scrabbling through Pinterest to see what I could make with them! I added the word cards too, as I wanted to see what cards people had made. You might like to do it the other way around to see what is used and then find stash to suit! I saw some lovely stuff there - wasted hours as per usual - and printed off two whole pages of inspiration.....I copy/paste things I like into a word document and crop the image to the bit I want and when the page is filled up, I print it! 
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3. I had in my possession a memo book - made from recycled milk cartoons apparently - and it had cost me an arm and a leg if you include the plane trip but only a few dollars if you don't. It was always intended to have the cover made-over, so was perfect for this project. I then went and got my roll of roofing-tape-stuff from the hardware store, (silver and textured with a sticky back) and stuck strips onto a piece of card big enough to cover the back and front of the book until it was covered. Once it was all stuck down and smoothed over to make the little joining bumps less obvious, I smooched some TH Distress inks all over it - they took for ages to dry and didn't really take that well, but there was some colour there.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   I then put the sheets into some different embossing folders however I could get them to fit into the Big Shot and embossed them until I was satisfied they looked OK. Next was the task of rubbing ink into them again to replace the stuff that rubbed off while embossing! I should have tried with other inks but decided I had started with TH so would continue.......
4. I added some emphemera stuff to suit Steampunk to one sheet, and then glued it to the front of the book - I forgot to mention that I had cut my sheet into two, and that the stitched spine of the book was going to be left as is in the gap between the two sheets 'cause I couldn't be bothered doing it any other way at that stage - too excited about playing in ink......about this time I remembered taking photo's is always a good idea so took one of the front after it was glued on....





and one of the back









I also concocted some 'hinges' using strap buckles and black ribbon to wrap around the spine





This is the back with the straps in place









That is the story of my Steampunk journey


It was a fun journey, and one that anyone can join in on - you have the whole month of June to make something/anything Steampunk style and enter it at Ecclectic Ellapu!


I will enter this in the following competitions:
Craft My Life: Anything but a Card
Card Mania: add metal embellies
Crafting from the Heart; anything goes
Not Just Cards: Masculine
Anything but Cute: Make it Masculine