Book wreath

I found this beautiful wreath online and thought it looked pretty cool.  I found some tutorials and off I went creating one of my own.

I took a used copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  The entire book.  It always hurts me to defile a book but it was worth it for the end result.  Plus it was a homeless book at a library book sale.  It will just be enjoyed in a different way.

I bought a medium sized Styrofoam wreath and went to work with paper, hot glue and staples.

I started in the middle of wreath.  On all layers but the first I only used hot glue.  Once I got to the layer that would sit on the wall I added a staple for some extra substance.

Once I made it to a flat back I flipped it over and started working again.  As I went along I used different folding patterns for various pages.  Some in cones, S shapes, and hearts.

Once I got to the inside on of the wreath I again secured the inside most layer with staples.  I had a couple extra sheets of paper in the end which I placed in any place where ever I could see the white from the foam wreath.  

 And it's complete!  Not to shabby for about a $5 project.

Another project complete.  I just need to make a second one for my mom.  Another day and another craft project to add to my list.

Valentine' Day Heart Garland

I love the holidays.  I love the changing of decorations around the house.  So to add to the decor I made a heart garland.

All it took was paper, watercolor, a hole punch and a sewing machine.
Step 1 - Paint one out of eight sheets of paper.  Paint both sides of sheet red
Step 2 - Create hearts with hole punch
Step 3 - Using red thread sew hearts together.  Use one red heart for every four white.  Sew 1/2 inch apart.
Step 4 - Enjoy!

Not including drying time this project only takes about 10 minutes.  Hooray for Valentine's Day.

From book to coaster

It's time for another craft made out of books!  I ran across a picture of coasters that were made out of book pages and I knew it was something that I needed to try. 

I started experimenting with page sizes to create at 4 inch by 4 inch coaster.  I ended up cutting each page 4 inches by 3 inches.  2 inches was too thin and 4 inches was too thick.  I used a bamboo skewer to roll each piece.

 When I had rolled about 2 inches of paper onto the skewer I spread glue on the remaining paper with a glue stick.  Another flashback to childhood, using a glue stick.

 Continue rolling you paper until it fits snugly on the skewer.  I found that putting a healthy amount of pressure once it rolled up helps keeps the ends together.  I might try using rubber cement next time.  The glue sometime came apart.  

After sliding the piece off the skewer I put two rolls of paper together with bobby pins.  I painted on Mod Podge on the top once I had selected the best part of the roll to face the top of the coaster.

 I only found 10 bobby pins in the house so this part of the project took a long time.  If you have more bobby pins you might be able to glue it all together at the same time.

 Finally it's all together.  I did an extra coat of Mod Podge on the top because of the liquid that could get on them.  Once the top was dry I flipped it over and did a layer of Modge Podge on the back.

 Ta Da!  4 super cool, upcycled, unique book coasters.

 With my projects so far I've made it though about 1/4 of my book.  So many more project ideas are just waiting to move from my mind into reality.

From books to flowers

I continue to be intrigued with crafts made from books.  I have seen paper roses for years and always wanted to try to make my own.  I made a couple before with the template below without coloring the paper and they turned out great.  This time I went for some color.  

  I found this template online.  The flowers turned out fantastic.  I recommend her website.  She has tons more flower tutorials that I will probably try soon!

From Ellinee

I bought some simple watercolors.  I felt like I was in elementary school all over again.  The colors were not the best but at least they worked.

  I colored five pages, let them dry, taped them together on the sides and traced on the patterns.  The water color did not bleed through so it was easier to trace on the backside of the paper.

 To add some additional texture they recommend curling the edges.  I did it by curling just like ribbon with a pair of scissors.  To create the interior of the rose I used a bamboo skewer and curled the pieces around the center.

Once the center was done it was time for the bigger petals.  I glued each piece together by the side tab.  I took the smaller of the two pieces and glued the bottom and place it inside the large petal.

And repeat until all the layers are complete!

The end result is amazing!  Each one is pretty different, especially the centers.  I really love how the color did not pass through to both sides of the paper.  It adds unexpected texture to each rose.

 For now they are sitting in a pitcher.  What I will do with them after that, who knows!

Books into gift tags

From some of my other paper projects I ended up with some scraps.  I can't part with some piece that could become something else.  I've been inspired by Pinterest as many crafters have recently.  I found some upcycled craft tags.  

 I cut my squares approximately 2 inches by 3 inches.  Some scraps were a little bigger or smaller so  For some stability I also cut white cardstock as backers.

 After the pieces were cut out including the two top corners for the top of the tag I glued the pieces together.  Some of the pieces did not quite match up.  They just needed a little trimming.  The final touch were some stamps on the book pages. 

After all that I added a whole punch at the top for string to go through to attach to gifts in the future.

As always I have more ideas for these little guys with some distress ink and some new and different stamps and book pages.  Maybe even some fancy eyelet to replace the simple hole punches.  It's a great scrap project.  Now I will probably never throw any craft paper pages away.

Book crafting

All the time that I have spent away from working on my blog and crafting I have been reading.  I got my library card back in Johnson County and I have already maxed out my hold list!  And from my reading I have become fascinated with paper crafts from books.  I started with one book to see what I could make from it.

To remove all the pages I used a box cutter.  The edges are certainly not perfect but for most of the projects they don't need to be.

I tried to keep the hardbound cover intact for another project.  There is a small cut on the spine from some over zealous cutting but I might end up covering it with fabric.

I have a couple books around the house that I can use and I bought a couple from the used book store.  Maybe I'll find some more this weekend around the neighborhood garage sales this weekend.  My adventure will be seeing how many crafts I can make out of one book.  I have a feeling it is going to be a lot.

I'm looking forward to playing around with paper for a while.  I'm still truly enjoying reading so much that my crafts are intermittent and small.  But hey if they are small then I might actually get to finish them.

Kindle case version 3.0

3rd time's a charm!  Version 1.0 - too big.  Version 2.0 - too small.  Version 3.0 - just right!

This time I went with a bookcase look for my digital bookcase. 

And all the pictures are sideways again.  I tried multiple times to get them straight to no avail.

This time I started with a paper layout of my bookcase.  I wanted 3/8 inch border around the kindle when it was finished.

 I went through my scrap collection and found some great fabric to use.

I cut the "books to size and placed the "wood around the edges to get an idea for what it will look like.

Made two sides, one light and one dark. for the covers of the case.

I used the light side for the front cover and the dark side for the back cover.  Looks good!

The inside covers were made from another Disney text print.  This time I used Peter Pan.  

To make the covers more stable I used a thick fusible interfacing.  On the inside cover I also used some batting to cushion the screen. 

I'm finally happy with version 3.0.  I love the cover on the first one.  The inside of the second one is fantastic.  The third one is the right size and the cover is unique and the inside looks great.  I think I'm finally done making Kindle covers for myself.  Maybe I'll start making them for Etsy.  

-Bryn

Kindle version 2.0

So far two kindles and two covers.  I replaced my first kindle within the week because I lost a couple pixels on it.  Took it back to Target and they replaced it no problem!  So now I have Kindle Fire 2.0 and now I need case 2.0!

 I found some fantastic Lorax fabric and knew that I needed to use it for my case.  My last case I made too large.  I needed to bring down the size.

Another issue with my last case was the elastic.  It was a bit too thin and it didn't hold the case very well. The elastic worked much better this time and I only make one little mistake installing it.  

The other fabric I knew I needed to use was some Disney text print.  The text I used was from Pinocchio.  It says "Star Light, Star Bright, the first star I see tonight. 

Well well...  The case is now a little too small!  

With my excitement in finding some cute fabrics I found out that they really don't work well together.

Kindle case version 3.0 here I come!

- Bryn