The reveal

And here it is: the commissioned altered notebook! Fret no more, and rejoice, for I have finally gotten off my ass and posted the finished piece.

The client was delighted, and ran her hands over the covers eagerly, flipping them open and looking at it from all angles. I tell you, it felt like I'd given her the bestest birthday gift ever.
The color blending worked out well with the background paper, and the red beads on the side picked up the map's road lines as I'd planned. Kinda looks like colored sugar for cupcakes, but I resisted the temptation to shake some into my mouth and enjoy the crunchiness. You're proud of me for that, I can tell.
I used an inset map of Rome for the back, and ran that 7 Gypsies gaffer tape along the bottom edge of the front and back cover. (I love their products, but man, they really need to make their website more user-friendly. Would it kill them to add a search function?) Then I inked up the edges to take the squeaky-clean feel down a couple notches.
I remembered to ask the client to tell a friend about me, and she said, "oh, I should tell my book club about this!" Which I thought was a fabulous idea, and then she topped herself. "Oh, wait -- I was going to give it [the notebook] to my husband [next] Tuesday, but my book club's this Thursday. I'll bring it to the book club, and then I'll wrap it up and give it to my husband on Tuesday."

Excellent idea! Couldn't have said it better myself.