I can't believe I'm doing this

I know I said I was going to cut back on challenges this year, but when I saw Craft Barn's latest challenge of Alpha/Dictionary, I simply had to join.  I didn't even know Craft Barn existed in 2013, the last time they ran that same challenge, so I was actually excited to play.  For me, it became a chance to complete a few quick spreads, maybe learn or develop a few techniques, try out products I had hidden away I'd forgotten why I purchased, or use a few excess products instead of hoarding them.

I read the directions carefully and saw I could use a dictionary or a journal.

I'm actually NOT a journal person, but I have a ton of old grad school books I can turn into an altered book.  Since we could use a dictionary or journal, I thought I would be allowed to use one of these.  It also said as long as we used the same substrate each fortnight, that would be acceptable.

For once I gave thought to size.  I wanted a book that would fit on my scanner, but didn't want one so big I'd have to scan and show the spread in two parts.  I took both books to my scanner (in the office), then decided

I would use the large one after all.  I was sure I could get the art and the word(s) on a single side.  I knew this was a school book and was extremely well put together, so I removed about 1/3 of the pages before I began laying down my first background.

I have one of these same American Heritage Dictionaries that is hard bound.  I bought it my first year as an undergrad and used it through my final degree.   Although I bought my first computer in my final year as an undergrad, the internet was not around, which meant I didn't have access to online dictionaries.  My first English professor said it was THE dictionary to buy, and I got this one in a thrift store a few years ago to use in my art, while keeping my hard bound dictionary in pristine condition.  So all words and definitions will come from this book.

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, I looked through the book, but didn't come up with anything I had in my stash for B until I thought of this:

Possibly not the best start in the world, but I used a few sticker letters that had been hanging around for years and years.  I began with buttermilk and bright green acrylic paints that I mixed directly on the pages using a faux credit card.  When the paint was dry, I spritzed my handmade shimmering mist through a doily that was upright on the left side (not shown) of the book.  I turned it over and "stamped" it on the right side of the book (shown above), then removed the doily and allowed everything to dry.  It's amazing how so many letters can read and look the same backward and forward.

This is the definition of backward from my dictionary.  I agree this probably does look worse!

I'm so glad I found this challenge and will be able to reunite with several of the participants I've lost contact with over the previous year.  Thanks, too, to those of you who visited today and those who leave comments.  They are truly appreciated.