This book began as a ruled journal with a Paris motif on its inside pages which were removed. I sponge painted browns, russet and gold paints on the cover. I added tiny reproductions of antique postcards, rubberstamped a few designs, glued on the keyhole and covered it with a few layers of Mod Podge. The ribbons on the spine with their attached trinkets and charms were added upon completion of the inside pages. The spiral binding can be gently pulled apart and reattached from the inside back cover.

My own personal photos were added to the text, the main font is Inkster. The pages were designed in my pc art program and printed on plain white paper until I had perfect placement without typos. Then I would print the final result on a page of watercolor cardstock, prepunched from a blank book (3 total were used in making this book--it was trial and error!) The coin is a 2 cent Euro. The map on the opposite side is a color copy I made from an atlas of ancient cities. This is Rome at the time of Caesar, the page unfolds.

The colored blocks over the text on the pages are rubberstamped, they were from my JodyPoesy line. The golden text stamped glassine envelope holds my ticket from the Vatican Museum. This book is like a childs pop-up book where there is always a surprise waiting, a pocket or envelope to check for some little trinket. 

The extra postcards that I bought as souvenirs or those sent to family back home were hole punched by scoring with an Exacto knife. Any piece of paper that wasn’t already hole punched, received its little holes, painstakingly, one at a time.

I made this pocket to hold my ticket from the Accademia Museum. Its circular hole emphasizes the graphic on the ticket which can be pulled out from the top for viewing.

My postcard from Vinci and ticket from the Da Vinci Museum are accented with a pocket I made from graphics by Leonardo I found online. The opposite side of the pocket has his self portrait. It was very tricky getting my graphics lined up properly, front and back. This one little pocket was the result of several hours of attempts. The front graphic of the wing sketch mimics the ticket.

One of the beautiful things about Italy is its doors. A photo of a large rustic door opens up to show the business card of the restaurant where we had our Farewell Dinner. On the opposite page: I typed out my observances called “La Dolce Vita” in a fancy font on vellum. It is repeated several times to fill up the space of the page, the font is called Aquiline. Behind it is a piece of Florentine paper. I had to use my Exacto knife to cut out all the holes to put it in the book.

I had an old photo postcard of the Eiffel Tower which I copied and distorted in my art program and printed on vellum paper. The text “Springtime in Paris” is in the familiar P22 Cezanne font.

The Paris pages are embellished with rubberstamped images and the page on the right has a city map drawing I found online.

I made this pocket from corrigated paper to hold receipts and papers. Right: My best and favorite photos are printed on cardstock and placed in staggered position, printed front and back.

The photo pages and back cover below: I made a color copy of a map of ancient Rome for the back inside cover. Should my book become lost I wanted to make sure it would be returned to me, it says “ritorna me” in Italian, return to me. I punched 2 holes in the back cover to hold an elastic binder, held in place with “washer words” it secures the book together when closed. The spiral binding is covered with handdyed ribbons with charms and tags. I worked on this project nights and weekends for about 3 weeks. I love sharing it with anyone who wishes to read it. 

back to Tuscany Rome Paris 2004

on to Paris 2006

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