DIY Colored Book Page Ornament

Every year near Christmas we have a celebration week at work. Each day is something different. One day is ornament day. You bring in ornaments and we pick another's to take. Last year I got a set of four. And they were pretty, but they were gold...and I am not a fan of gold. No worries, I have a DIY project.

Here's what you'll need:

an ornament to cover

book pages

mod podge

paint brush

wire cutters

food coloring

berries and leaves

hot glue 

stick (or as I used, a wooden spoon) to hang your drying ornament

 As I have stated in a number of other posts, I have a few old Reader's Digest books laying around...so I used one of those and ripped up some pages. Next I attached the pieces of the book pages to the ornament using mod podge (sorry I didn't take a pic of that, but I think you can see what I mean in the next picture). I made sure none of the original ornament was showing. I allowed that to dry. After it dried, I mixed some red food coloring with some mod podge and brushed that over the entire surface. I hung it on a spoon hanging over a table to dry.

 Once it dried I used 2 leaves from a pack of Recollections' Holly leaves... as well as a few berries from a Christmas pick I bought from AC Moore a few years back. (I used a pair of wire cutters to cut the berries I wanted from the pick).

I figured out where I wanted them on the ornament and then I hot glued them in place. Once I was finished I had something like this:

Hope you liked this simple and fun tutorial. Let me know if you try it out! Thanks for stopping by!

Spooktacular! A Printable Mini Scrapbook

Well here it is...my newest printable mini...Spooktacular...and in case you didn't realize it a Halloween theme! Check out the YouTube video.

As I've done before...I'm giving away this mini for FREE!!!! This time you decide how you want it! Do you want it pre-made? Do you want the FREE download? Do you want me to send you a printed out kit (which I will get printed at a place like Staples since my printer is cooperating with me)? You decide. And to make this entry a little easier...all you have to do is comment on this post. I will pick a random winner on Halloween! Good luck, everyone!

Pinspiration Sunday: Upcycled Book into Pumpkin

Since my best friend, Angela, and I raided a yard sale scooping up a ton of old Reader’s Digest books, I’ve been looking for projects I could do with them. Making a pumpkin seemed like a really great idea…at the time….I only say that because it’s a long tedious project. Just like my recycled book into keepsake box, this involves a lot of time cutting pages with an xacto knife.

Well anyways…let’s get started, shall we? First things first gather your supplies

I used:

Old Reader’s Digest book

Pattern from BHG—cut out

Valspar's La Fonda Copper Spray Paint

Acrylic Spray Sealant

Cinnamon stick

Burlap

Tattered Angel’s Glimmer mist

Lace/ribbon

Hot glue and gun

First I removed the cover and binding from my book (and put it away for safe keeping so I could do something with it later on). 

Next put my pattern on the book, traced it and started cutting away…this takes FOREVER…and with my RA, it didn’t feel so good on my wrist…but after awhile (for me I did it in stages over many days) you cut through all the pages and you have something that looks like this:

Now it’s time to start hot gluing pages. First, you want to glue the first and last pages together to make the pumpkin fully round. Next, you take a strip of hot glue along the binding, top to bottom, throughout the book. This helps separate the pages a little to make the pumpkin fuller. 

Space between the first and last page--glue these together

Start gluing between pages at the binding--make it full all the way around---fill in gaps

After, I did this, I sprayed the entire thing with my orange spray paint. I tried to separate pages so that the color would get on the inside as well…I was covered in paint by the end but the pumpkin looked good. I let that dry overnight. Then I carefully separated any pages that got stuck together from the paint and I added more hot glue along the binding to help separate pages as needed. Then I sprayed the pumpkin with my acrylic sealer. After that dried it was time to add the finishing touches. 

I took a cinnamon stick and broke it in half, and stuck one half in the center opening of the pumpkin top. I had some burlap leaves on hand that I made up a while ago using mod podged burlap and Tim Holt’s tattered leaves sizzix die. My leaves were in neutral colors so I decided to glimmer mist it using Tattered Angels leapfrog glimmer mist.

 Once that dried (I hurried it along with my heating tool), I hot glued it into place. I finished it off with a piece of lace ribbon that I tied around the pumpkin’s stem.

And there you have it…a pumpkin upcycled from a book! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Thanks for stopping by!

Nothing Gold Can Stay Printable Mini Album Kit Winner

The winner of my Autumn Printable Mini is...

Arplytag

Congrats! I will be in touch so we can arrange receiving your album kit. Thanks everyone. Keeping checking back for my next printable mini album release and giveaway!

Don't Forget! Fall Mini Album Giveaway This Saturday

I just wanted to remind everyone of the FREE FALL MINI ALBUM GIVEAWAY! You can see this album on this post. For this giveaway, you get the printable (already printed out for you...unless you want the download for FREE!), plus the chipboard, some glue and maybe a few other things I can throw in ;) To enter all you have to do is FOLLOW THIS BLOG. I will pick the winner this weekend. If you are interested in purchasing this album, please visit my Etsy shop where you can purchase the download for $10. Good Luck, everyone!Thanks for stopping by!

Winner of the Budding Romance Mini

Hello, everyone. I'm so sorry I missed posting the winner yesterday. I have been sick for a few days and had several visits to the ER. I'm still recovering but I don't want to leave anyone hanging, wondering who the winner is to my first ever giveaway. The winner is...

The Girl Who Went to Texas!

Congrats!

To see what The Girl Who Went to Texas won, check out the YouTube Video which shows you the album and the printable which you can buy from my Etsy shop for only $7.

 I'm almost finished with a Fall inspired printable mini album so keep checking back for that. Once I've completed it, I will have another giveaway for that too. Thank you everyone, for stopping by!

Pinspiration Sunday: Recycled Book Keepsake Box

I picked up a few old Reader’s Digests a few years ago from a yard sale. I figured one day I would find something to do with them. When I saw this pinned by Better Homes & Gardens, I knew I finally had something…a keepsake box.

Now I have no idea what to put inside this thing, but I had to make it anyways. Here’s what I did to make mine. First I applied mod podge to the very last page and allowed it to adhere to the back cover. Then I applied mod podge around the outside of the pages and allowed them to dry completely (making sure the front cover does not stick to the pages).

After it all dried, I measured one inch around each side and marked it. And then I connected the marks.

Then I used my xacto knife to cut along the lines (I actually used my ruler to help guide my first cut all the way around).

Once all 4 sides had been cut, I removed the pages. Then I cut along the same path and removed those pages. I continued to do this until I reached my desired depth.

Next, I thought it would like pretty cool if I colored the inside of the newly formed box. I sprayed it with Tattered Angel’s Glimmer Mist and allowed it to dry. Then, I sealed the inside of the “box” with mod podge and allowed it to dry fully.

For the envelope, I already had a box of them that fit 4X6 inch cards. I distressed it using Tim Holt’s blending tool and distressed inks in Vintage Photo and Antique Linen. I attached it to the inside front cover using my ATG gun.

Next I just decorated it. I used a burlap flower I made (future tutorial) and a burlap leaf on the cover. This is my final book/box:

Womb to the World

Well I'm now 38wks preggers and we are impatiently awaiting Grayson's arrival. I've worked on his album as much as I can. I seperated each page as one month of pregnancy and it will included his birth and coming home. I thought I would show you what I have done so far. The album I used I bought from marionsmithdesigns.com. As I have shared before, I love her work and she sells great products. This is what the album looked like before I tore it apart.

 

Here are the inside pages...the whole book is made of heavy chipboard

I used paint to cover the pages, seperating each trimester by color. I used a variety of papers, prima flowers, ribbons, bling, buttons, glimmer mists ect. And item's designed by Marion Smith and Tim Holtz. Here's the album so far...

This pull tab is great! Learned it from Marion Smith! Check out how to make it from her video on ustream

This leaf we found at our Maternity photo shoot and we took a picture with it next to my belly...I love fall and I loved that picture...I saved the leaf and mod podged it to my page

I embellished this book with lots of flowers and other items with 3D dots which made it too large for the original binding. So I had to cut the covers off and I just bound it with ribbon then embellised the binding with the birdcage and pin. I really like the way this book is turning out...now we just gotta get this little guy out so I can finish it! Thanks for looking...hope you like it too!