Title: It's In The Bag
Structure: Grocery Store Bag Recycled Book
Dimensions: 12 H x 9.5 W (including the handles)

Video of my process.

Well this was another experiment in building a structure. I don't think I'll call it a failed attempt since I actually enjoyed the process and because I like some aspects of the book. 

For example, the grocery bag paper is wonderful for journaling. Once you have the paint and the gesso on the pages, they become these amazing canvases waiting for your thoughts and artwork. The texture of the raw bag provides a magnificent surface for playing. 

I really wanted to combine content that would speak to the way Damon and I shop/eat. We are pretty simple people when it comes to food. We just want clean, healthy, food that we can rely on to keep us energized both creatively and physically. So I took that idea and basically created a grocery list of the things we buy most often (if not every time we visit the store). 

Of course I had to throw in a poem and some journaling. In all honesty, I wasn't happy with the last spread for most of the time I was working on it. I was trying a new style that didn't include my favorite symbols -- circles and dots -- but it wasn't really doing it for me, so I went back to what I know and love and once I did that, it got a little better. I still think it's a bit busy, but every time I look at it, I like it a little more. I think I was using colors that I typically don't use together and that may have been the other issue. 

Like most of the books I'm making for this year-long project, I think I would do this again when I have more time to dedicate to it. I find that what I really want to do with these books is figure out which ones are reproducible in a way that feels authentic to me -- who knows, maybe that is next year's challenge :-). 

I'm looking forward to what next week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.

Title: Scrabbled: A Short Story
Structure: Slot & Tab
Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2

Video of my process. (COMING SOON)

So you've heard me talk about my dear friend Lyall and her daughter Savia -- a lot!!! Well, this is the book structure that I learned from Savia (a 9-year old) and I love it. It's so easy and has lots of possibilities for written text or pictures. 

I think this structure is a similar one to what Alisa Golden calls the slot and tab structure and that her husband created and later learned that many other book artists had their own take on it. (She talks about this her book: Making Handmade Books -- which I'm proud to say I have a signed copy of!!)

Of course my printer and I fought for a few hours, but other than that, this was a fun book to make. During the day, my nephew, Connor, my husband, Damon, and I played a game of Scrabble and from that game, I used the words we created to build a story.

That was the biggest challenge, using all the words and not sounding too forced. There are, of course, moments in the story where it feels forced, but hey -- I did it in ONE DAY!!

Just for kicks, here is a picture of the final board. It appears in the book as well. This structure is really not easy to see on camera, but I show you how I made it on the video, so take a look at that to get a better detailed view of it. 

I'm looking forward to what next week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.

Title: Little Boxes
Structure: Altered Book
Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 9 1/2

Video of my process. 

Yep!! You heard right. This was my first time making an altered book. Of course, I LOVED it and will be using old books for more than just ripping the pages out for my art journals. 

This was a fun and overwhelming book to create. To be completely honest, I didn't think I would finish it. 

Because it was my first time altering a book, there were a lot of things I didn't consider from the onset. For example, I should have cut some pages out instead of gluing so many together. The spine is warped a great deal because of this mishap. Also, I didn't factor in the drying time of the pages before I could move on to the next page spread. But regardless to these issues, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED making this book. 

I was totally inspired by the black out poetry that I've been seeing on Pintrest lately. Some of my favs are: makeblackoutpoetry.com and Creative Destruction (Kevin Harrell) and Austin Kleon who uses the newspaper to create black out poetry. So in the shadow of these poet-artists, I created my own blackout poetry book using a hard cover book of short stories. 

In total, the book has 42 altered pages -- 21 spreads. I love the yummy colors throughout the book. I took this opportunity to use my craft paints, watercolor tin, watercolor crayons, and lots and lots of gesso. Basically, I played a lot with color combinations and mixing media. 

I would totally do this again, but would give myself more than one day to do it, or pick a smaller book. :-)

The other really amazing thing about this book is the cover. The same day I started the book -- Saturday August 17th, I got my August StencilGirl stencils in the mail. If you don't know about this monthly subscription, you should check it out immediately!!! They send you three - four stencils each month and this month's were AHHH-MAZE-ZING!!!!

That's what I used for the cover and I'm in love with that stencil. It immediately jumped to the top of my list of favorites when I opened the package. So, needless to say, that's why the cover of this book is so fantastic and it fit the theme so nicely. I had already decided to call the book "Little Boxes" when I got the mail, so it was serendipity for sure. 
I'm looking forward to what next week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.