Have you noticed the altered books people are making? I had been seeing them on Pinterest, and wondered what the deal was. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about them and decided to try to make one. They are very simple. You can use all kinds of items to make them. I bought some crafting items from the Dollar Tree and got busy.
How to:
Find an old hard back book, preferably with the pages sewn in rather than glued.
Count 20 or so pages, and glue them together, or tape them so that they become one thick page.
Count 20 or so pages, and glue them together, or tape them so that they become one thick page.
Here is a gift bag I bought.
(same design on back)
I cut the bird from the bag, and used mod podge to attach to the front of the book. Mod podge to cover of book and back of picture, then mod podge over the entire front of book.
Next I reinforced the spine of the book with glossy aqua vinyl tape I had bought from the dollar bins at Target recently. At this point I still didn't have a "topic" for my book. I just started and it all came together.
Inside cover:
Jardinage (French for 'Horticulture')
Glued in scrap of ribbon (stash)
2 butterfly stickers (DT)
Next page:
(glue/tape about 10 pages to each other)
Picture on left page was one in my stash that I had printed off a long time ago, glued to book page created by gluing several pages together.
Right side
I painted the book page except for one paragraph with white acryllic paint. After it dried, I added the puffy flower sticker and the butterfly sticker.
The pocket (floral) is a gift card holder. On this one I glued the bottom together, snipped one side of the top flap off to make it like a pocket. I printed off a graphic about birds, and tucked it into the pocket.
Glue or tape several more pages together to make one thick page.
On this page (below left), I glued a piece of scrapbooking paper, and added 2 of the nice stickers from DT, and a scrap of lace I already had.
Glue together another group of pages on the right side. On the right side, I glued the large butterfly from the gift bag, added a butterfly sticker, and glued on a piece of a calendar page (left from 2011) with butterflies on it.
This group of pages were taped together with the aqua vinyl tape, probably about 20 pages.
The next page consists of more left over scrap paper, some metalic stick on tiles, a puffy flower sticker, and a piece of an ad that reads, "enchanted dreams".
I think it was about this time that I determined the title of my book would be SPRING. So I punched out the foam adhesive letters (DT) to spell it out and added it to the front cover.
On the next page (group of about 20 or 30 pages taped together), I cut out a framed design from an old calendar and glued it over the whole book page. Then I used another gift card holder, folded up the bottom to form a pocket. I inserted a book mark I made from scrap paper with a floral sticker added.
I tucked it into the pocket.
I think the next opening is my favorite.
(tape another group of pages together)
I glued a piece of rose covered gift tissue across the entire 2 page opening and attached lace to each edge.
Left side: (added one stick on flower)
Right side: added the name tag from the gift bag by gluing to tissue paper, lift it and inside is this little black lacy flower.
The bird is a puffy sticker.
Another calendar page glued to book page. The vase of roses is a book mark from House Beautiful that came in the mail.
On the right side, I wrapped a sheet of copy paper around the entire group of pages.
The yellow flowers are part of the gift bag. The green leafy swirly thing is a sticker, and the top corner has a foam sticker.
Flipping the page, this is a thank you card glued to the copy paper, I added the black flower as a "pull" to open the card.
Once opened: more of the tissue paper is glued inside the card so the rose shows thru the window.
Next page:
Here, I left the print showing, glued a piece of scrap paper at a diaginal, made another pocket from a gift card holder. Taped the bottom up to look like an envelope, added a charm to this ribboned tag (in my stash), and tucked it inside.
Final page has a puffy hydrangea sticker, and a group of butterfly stickers.
Tie it up with string and....
that is all!!
Get out an old book, and a bunch of your bits and bobs and scraps, and make yourself an altered book. Just let your imagination go. It's so fun!!
You can be as creative as you please and make a one of a kind book! My Granddaughter loves the book. She loves putting things in the little 'envelopes', lifting the flaps, etc.
This is awesome! It's like a scrapbook. I like the envelope pockets, too. I'm not sure if I missed it, but what sort of glue did you use with the scrapbook paper?
ReplyDeleteXO,
Jane
Very creative and pretty, just love it! May have to try making one myself.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great repurposing idea Kathy!! Much better than a made from scratch scrapbook I think. Terrific, thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like so much fun and a really creative way to use an old book! Yours is lovely and I like how you used bits and bobs from here and there! Thanks for joining Diann and I at TTF this week!
ReplyDeleteLinda