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This will show how to make a very easy book using ordinary materials and tools. I save the best papers for the covers and use construction paper for the pages. It rolls back easily when the pages are turned, and it accepts paste much better. I like the way it tears easily, and it seems that even a lot of pages make only a very lightweight book. When the book is put together and tied, bend the stiff cover paper back and make a crease, which forms a little binding area..jpg)
This is a close up of the sticker placed on two pieces of glittered paper from the glitter pack I got at WalMart. The cover is easy: just cut it the same size as the pages.+(2).jpg)
To make the holes evenly apart, fold the paper in half and punch one hole.
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Then lay it on your stack of pages and use it as a guide to punch the holes. Do the same with the covers..jpg)
Inside, I have placed on plain white paper, some stickers that I've been saving for quite awhile, because they were so pretty. To make words, phrases, or poetry, write on the construction paper with a pen and tear around the word, or cut it to look like a banner or ribbon. I've torn around all the words in this book..jpg)
On these pages I have pieces of old scrap book paper that I liked and could not throw out, and a picture from a catalog. You can cover up mistakes with strips of paper cut with decorative edged scissors or just cut plainly. Here, I put the holes in the wrong end of the picture, so I covered them up with the strip of glitter paper..jpg)
Another catalog clipping, and an antique postcard reproduction from a gift bag, bordered by glitter paper. To cover up the initials in catalog pictures, place stickers or words or pieces of decorative paper over it..jpg)
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6 comments:
Beautiful - These would make lovely little scrapbook albums for presents - baby's first year etc. Thank you - these may be next years Christmas presents - and no spending I can use what I have - thank you!
Ah, gorgeous!
-Christine from Arizona
I am really enjoying the different ideas for creating the books, etc., particularly I find myself going back to the posts labeled "altered boxes". You have given me literally THOUSANDS of ideas that show me how I can trim the budget.
While we have been VERY fortunate compared to many of our friends -- we have suffered neither foreclosure nor unemployment -- we nevertheless have been hit, like so many others, with the high gas prices of last summer, inflation with no wage increase, and so forth. I have been trying to think of creative methods to trim expenses to the minimum. These are ways I never thought of before. We don't often buy boxed cold cereal, but after I found your article on turning them into gift boxes, I have saved the last two boxes -- and got so many compliments on how nice they looked! You awoke a talent I didn't know I had!! :-)
I do not buy boxed cereals either, and rarely buy boxed anything, but there are still plenty of boxes. I get tea boxes, and any kind of carton that things come in. I even look at the kleenex box a different way: Can the oval opening be a frame, a template, etc.? Someone left a box from a frozen pie at a luncheon and I saved it just to play around with for a new idea. It won't be long before our cardboard boxes will be too thin to work with, and our paper bags are going to get much thinner in the future, so it is fun and interesting to use them in a different way while we still can. I don't advise young mothers who already have too much to do, to save every little thing and be crafting all the time, as it can become as stressful as a job if they are not careful. I do think young women should know how to improvise and use things in different ways and teach their children how to use things in different ways.
the ribbon used to tie this little book was clipped from a used gift bag.
Due to allergies, we go through a lot of kleenex. I am using 6 empty kleenex boxes to hold sewing supplies. They stack nicely and are so pretty. One holds elastic, one holds ribbon, one rick-rack, etc. I just tear out the plastic from the tops and stack the filled boxes. I will label them soon.
I am planning to cut the tops off a few boxes to use as drawer dividers.
My grandchildren also love to use any boxes for crafts. Kleenex boxes can be used as play bricks. They can even be glued together to make a play house, if there is enough room for that in the house.
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