library pocket book

on monday i had been wanting to try and make a small book using library pockets. i was inspired by what i had seen here & here. i found a template here. but then i realized i had no cardstock to use for the library pockets. what i did have lying around on the floor was two priority mail envelopes that were made out of tyvek, which is a rip resistant and water proof material. it was thin, but tough which seemed like an interesting material to use. i cut the envelopes open and used the them to make my library pockets with the template.

after making the library pockets, i was thinking of ways to bind them. one easy way was to hole punch them on top as if it were a tag. i tried that, but my hole punch got stuck on the tyvek, so i had to force the hole punch from the pocket. nothing ripped of course, but i realized maybe hole punching was not so good for the tyvek since it's so tough. to disguise the wrinkled holes, i decided to place each pocket on top of each other. i folded the small part on top of all the pockets, where the hole was and taped it down so the pockets were attached to one another.

i was planning to use the pockets for atcs. but i found that the pockets were a little too large for the atcs, so the atcs were falling off. i decided to use blue library due date cards that were cut into tags, & they fit nicely. i wasn't satisfied yet, though. i decided i wanted a cover for the book to protect the tags (which would be collaged on later). i still had several pieces of the tyvek envelope left so i made a cover that was a little bit bigger than the book. then i glued the back of the last pocket to the cover as well as the first pocket onto the cover. this attached the book to the cover. i screwed up in the last part since i lost the first pocket, unfortunately, but i did learn something from my mistake.
the result:




if my instructions sound rather muddled and a bit vague, that's because they are! i didn't plan it out, i just went along and did it. which is why i encountered a few mistakes, but i did like using the recycled materials and will decorate the tags later.

one inch art squares

i've been noticing tiny little one inch squares that have been collaged. at first i was a little wary of it, since it seemed like a challenge, but yesterday i wanted to try something new. so i cut out one inch pieces of cardboard, used bits of origami and cut out tiny details from magazines and catalogs. then i went through ripped out text pages for interesting words. it was a fun but also interesting to see what i came up with when utilizing such a tiny canvas. now i realize they would be fun to swap with others, but i'm wondering how others display such tiny works of art?

here's my first attempts with this:


some links/ideas from others: lia makes them as well and here's chrysti's 1' squares and tutorial

spontaneity

as a challenge to myself, these two art journal entries were created with only the use of magazines/catalogs, and random scraps on my desk. i found that sometimes my journal pages were made when i was constantly sifting through papers and i wanted to create collages that were a bit more spontaneous instead.

attending a paper crafters & scrapbookers meet up

yesterday, i attended my very first meet up through the website meetup.com. it was held in a nice room in the jewish community center and to be honest, i was a bit disappointed. i knew there would be scrapbookers, but i had hoped there would be others who did altered books and other forms of altered art. since it was a small group of six women (including me), everyone except me was doing some form of scrapbooking. i'm not knocking scrapbooking, because it sounds like a fun way to record your memories, but i don't have much interest in it. and there was the added effect that i was the youngest there, (i'm 18) and most of the other women were married & had kids! two of the women talked a lot about babies and the struggles of taking care of kids. i felt like we didn't have too much in common...so i don't think i will participate in that group again. i did like that i was pretty productive in the group though, i worked quietly and made five atcs that i really like.

latest atcs & visual journal entries

school

papers to write :(
i have an 8 page paper due on monday.

decorated tags for a swap at swap-bot

again, i've used library cards and turned them into tags. then i colored them with silky crayons and then collaged them in a color scheme.

recent art journal pages

journa

preparing to alter a book

i haven't altered a book in awhile. i've done just two books and that was awhile ago. i find that preparing a book to be altered is better for the book in the long run, even though sometimes i just want to start collaging the pages right away.

first i rip pages out, and not all of them in the same section of the book. i rip and rip at different places at the book, which leds to a pile of pages on the floor. pages in books tend to be thin especially in fiction books. plus, even though the book may not be very old, i find pages can rip on the edges easily. i like to work on a sturdy surface so i start to glue pages together, and it's usually five pages glued together. i also like reducing the number of pages so the book won't get too fat and start breaking. because my book is a fairly thick novel, it's good to get rid of pages so i won't feel as overwhelmed when i start altering the book.

after i have glued the pages together for sturdier pages, i start to color each two page spread. i like to do this because i don't feel as comfortable working with just the text of the book. i like that the colors give a starting point for my collages. now it's time to start altering!

handmade christmas gift tags

made with:
library cards, ribbon, a manilla tag as a template & papersource catalog cut outs as decorations
& the best thing was that it cost me $0 to make these.
my aunt gave me the ribbon, and i worked at the school library so they had stacks of library cards lying around.
these are best viewed at the biggest photo size.