Altered book box(loads of pics)

I've been making art journal pages(there will be 52 in total), and Darcy asked me how I was planning on fastening them together.......

I was planning on using my bind it all tool, easy! But the pages are getting too thick to join, so I have decided to store them in a box. But what box?? Then whilw trawling Hobbycraft for a bargain (yes you can find them if you try) I found this papier mache book box.......

and my pages fit !! Well they are a bit shorter than the box but it'll do :)

Bit boring though, so lets decorate it, yay!

I don't have any of that posh gesso stuff, so I use watered down matt emulsion to prime the box.

Inside and out....
Then (after letting it dry) I added a coat of black matt paint (I use matchpots)
I just painted the outer cover black, so the paler section looks like pages.

Next I printed off a selection of papers I received from Crafty Chaos Design called Gothic Bruise......

cut them to size, and scruffed them up a bit.

I decided which pieces where going where, and stuck them onto the surfaces.

Now I just had to decorate the front cover....

I started by adding a title, which I chose because of the skull papers on the inside :D

As well as alluding to the personal nature of the journal pages.

I printed an image from a Dezinaworld collage sheet, called Faux stamps 1, onto vellum and glued it on.
Then I added a few Tim Holtz grungy bits...

and I have storage for my journal pages :D (might add some more stuff yet)

Thanks for looking :D XXX

I am entering this project for the following challenges;

ABC challenge# U is for underneath

Creative Belli#117 the letter S (storage)

MAWTT#98 2B's (box,book,black)