Antique Book & Book Wreath

Since I'm back-in-the-saddle after spring break, I was motivated to do two projects for today.

So, yadda, yadda, yadda -- another book wreath, but this time in miniature!  I wanted to be able to move it around the house.  In the above picture it's part of an arrangement.  I am thinking it might look cute in a cloche as well...

Or hanging from a knob...

In typical wreath fashion, I cut a form from cardboard using one of our drinking glasses.  Then kind of hacked out the middle.  For the "pages", I used the pages from the book shown with it and ripped it into 8ths, yes, 8ths people, those were some pretty small pieces!  Then I used a distressing stamp and went around the raw edges and some of other spots (Note:  I used the distress stamp in "tea", it was the only one available when I purchased it at JoAnn's.  I do not care for the color, it's too red for old paper.  I would have preferred a more yellow-y color.)

My next project is the antique book.  Who knew these little devils existed?  Has anyone else seen them done in blogland?  I saw these ready made on a trip to Marshall's and they were $7 or $8 - what the heck?

 Once again with the "hacking", I used a kitchen knife to slice out a portion of my math book (purchased for $1.99). 

Next, I paid a visit to the Graphics Fairy.  (Don't you just {heart!} her blog, whenever I go over there I get distracted looking at all of the awesome graphics, that I forget what my original goal was.)  Oh, yes, a book cover.

This is a cover for a photographer.  I had to do some experimenting with the size.  I needed a graphic that didn't have words too close the the edge because I had to do some cropping to get it to my book size.

It's pretty easy to see the process -- some distressing ink around the face of the book, and here on the binding...

Let's not forget the edges.  I curled the corners by hand and around a pencil.  The finishing was easy, I just put my Graphics Fairy page on top (you could glue it down, but I didn't) and tie it with a jute bow.

I just love these easy projects!  Just think of how many "antique books" you can make for very little money.   (Shown above with my cork spheres.)   If you make either of these, please let me know I'd love to see them - {smile with dimples!}.

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