Book it for Christmas

While Becky is a relatively new friend of Shabby Art Boutique and Simply Christmas, I’m sure many of you will know her already from her fabulous blog and those wonderful Thursday Link Up parties. Becky loves hunting for junk that she can repurpose, build with or paint on. . . gosh, she sounds just like me!! So please welcome Becky to Simply Christmas and make sure you pop on over to Beyond the Picket Fence to say ‘HI’.

Hi all, thanks so much for having me!  If you don’t know or haven’t met me, I have a secret or a confession to make:  I love and collect way too many old books.  I love their yellowing pages, musty smell, their inside cover pages, and oh, those fabric covers and fabulous colors just melt my heart!  But a year ago I realized that I had better start doing something with some of those old book or open up a library.  Since I was a little rusty on the ol’ Dewey Decimal system (honestly, Dewey was never one of my favorite people anyway), I chose to get creative with my growing book coIlection and have made decorative tags out of the covers,

This year I came up with another fun Christmas decoration using an old book.  I started with a red book–choose a color that matches your Christmas decor.  Cut the insides out to save for other projects (see how cute the inside covers are?!).

Next choose a word you want to put on the book.  I chose JOY because it is short, my daughter’s middle name, and a good word :).  You can use a Cricut or similar thing to cut the letters out, freehand them, use a stencil or print them out on the computer in outline style to cut out, like I did.  I am using a page from a music book, but pages from a Christmas book or even vintage pictures from a Christmas book would work.

I wanted a little sparkle, so I brushed a thin layer of Modge Podge on the letters and a sprinkle of glitter.

Then you should be more patient than I was or spray the letters with a clear sealer.  Decoupage the letters on the book (see the glitter spread a bit, oh well).

I decided it needed a little embellishment and something to cover the book repair tape on it.  I was going to add some greenery or bells or something, but chose to stick with the book theme and made a little paper rosette.  To do this I cut 2 strips 12″x 1″ and fan folded them.  Had I used a paper cutter, they would have been straighter.

 glue them together (remove the hot glue spider webs).  Add a button and glue it to your book sign.  Then add a ribbon and voila, a quick, inexpensive Christmas decoration–these make great, calorie free gifts for the neighbors, teachers, and such.

Thanks so much for letting me guest post and I would love it if you come visit me at Beyond the Picket Fence!