Altered Tim Holtz Idea-ology Covers

Hello everyone!!  I have some fun binders for you today.  I was at Michael’s recently, ready to spend my Christmas money, and to my delight I found a bunch of awesome things on clearance.  One of those things were these Tim Holtz idea-ology covers, and the plastic sleeves that fit inside.  I’ve been looking at these for awhile, but always had other things going on and never made the plunge.  This time, though, they came home with me and I got to work!!

I altered these with the intention of giving them as gifts to some ladies that have been working with the youth in our church and have recently been given other assignments.  I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake to have each of the young women write a note of farewell and gratitude to include in the book, and alter the cover in such a way that I could include a group picture of everyone.

These idea-ology covers come with a design already printed on them, the fabric covers antiqued with lovely hues of beige and brown.  I really wanted to incorporate it in one of the covers, but for the other two, I decided to be a little more colorful.

Each one was super fun to create, and I loved using a lot of elements and learning what tools and supplies worked best in certain situations.  I do have a few tips if you’ll be doing any of these yourselves.

• If you work with chunks of fabric like I did in the cover above, it helps to stiffen it a little bit with modge podge or gel medium.  Not a lot, just enough to make it keep it’s shape.
• Don’t try to rush through letting things dry, especially when you’re adding a lot of elements, like the last cover shown.  It’s much easier to continue working when everything is solid than to try to work while things are wet and have to fix things you mess up when you’re not careful enough.
• I used a color dauber to add the colors on the bottom two covers, but I either spritzed the color with water after I applied it to get it to blend, or I used some plastic wrap to apply the color to the surface.  It makes the colors more random and organic than only using the dauber.

Thanks for visiting!!  I actually am making a video showing the making of the top cover, but I accidentally left my laptop at my sister’s with all my clips and pictures.  She’s shipping it to me though, so I should have it up by the end of the week.

Let me know what you think!!  Have you done these idea-ology covers before?  What tips would you share?