Hand Made Books

I had so much fun making books last week. I was completely inspired by all the goodies that Terri sent. Plus, I wanted to make a little something to give to the Frayed Edges.

I started with a teeny little book as a thank you for Terri. The cover is made of her beautiful collaged fabric and I mixed in some scrapbook paper and other stuff from my stash of interesting papers -- including a letter stencil.

Next I worked assembly-line style to make a book for each of the Frayed Edges. Each book has essentially the same elements in the same order. This made creating the signatures just like following a recipe. Each book focuses on one main color -- green, pink/red, blues and yellows.

I used fun foam for the covers (except for the yellow -- I didn't have any yellow fun foam, so I made a fabric cover). I wanted to covers to be pretty simple since the body of the book is filled with so much creative clutter. I just added one simple rubble stamp element to the covers. (I got that excellent stamp at the new Paper Source at Northpark Mall. Love!)

I had to hide the books behind my back and blindly hand one to each of the Frayed Edges lest a fist fight break out in choosing the colors.

Here is a peek at the pink/red book. (Plus green and purple apparently.)

These books are really just little interactive sketches -- well, not really sketches. But I think of them like warm-ups. I go through my stuff. Think about what goes together. Create things to open, fold, flip and hide. I keep my hands busy and focus on the raw creating. I try to embrace imperfection. Maybe the books will be filled with journal writing, maybe they are just fun to flip through. Maybe the get de-constructed and become something else. It's about the process.

I wrote a note on the little mini-book within the journal that says something about "keeping your hands busy." That phrase just popped into my head. It's figurative and literal, I think. Keep going.

I made another little interactive/mixed-media/journal/book for Joanne to celebrate her September birthday.

There's that circle stamp again. It's also got a "J" for Joanne.

That's electrical tape holding the stencil in place. Purple! I also have green and yellow and next time I'm at Home Depot, I'm buying more. It's so fun.

And speaking of books... I read one that was FABULOUS! Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. Oh my goodness. I have just discovered on Amazon that she has written a sequel. Well, I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.