Fifty Cent Prize

What could you possibly buy these days for 50 cents?  An ART Journal, that's what!!!!  And actually, it was 53 cents because I bought it in MD, and they have sales tax.  I found an awesome, hard-bound book, about 9X6 inches and on inch thick, for sale for 50 cents, at the Elkton, MD Big Lots!

 It looked sort of interesting, if you like mysteries, I guess.  I didn't get it for reading.  I got it because of it's awesome size and it's hard cover!  I loved it for 50 cents!!!  I got it home and proceeded cout out 3-4 pages, then tear out 8-9 pages, then count 3-4 pages, then tear out 8-9 pages, until I got all the way done with tearing.

I got as close to the seam as I could when I was tearing.  The reason I tore so many pages out is to give the book room to expand once I start adding my touches to each artsy page.  I tend to add a lot of 3D elements to my projects.  Before long, all my books are quite bulky!

I then glued the 3-4 pages together using mod podge, so that my Art Journal pages are thick and able to handle all the mixed media I will put on them.  I also began gessoing my pages, so that I can use my Faber Castell water color pencils, and pitt brushes, and pastels, and oils, and acrylics on the fresh canvas with libetty, and my pages will hold up well.

The gessoing took out some of the written words, but they are still peeking through.  I didn't gesso that thick because I like the look of the book paper as a background to my art.  I may end up covering each page in patterned paper or in paint, but I will know the words are there as the foundation.  

Here's a side view of the closed book, with the pages ready for art:

I will probably put things in here that I may not want to share with anyone, so I'm liking the fact that this journal will sort of look like a regular 'ol book on a shelf, while the inside will be rich in colors and textures.  

But part of me thinks I will end up personalizing and colorizing the outside.  What do you think I should do?