Spring Pinterest Challenge: Book Page & Paint Chip Art

It's Spring Pinterest Challenge Time! The bloggers behind Young House Love and Bower Power dreamed this challenge up, and I was thrilled to participate again. I played along last summer when I created Repurposed Book Page art and this past winter when I created Personalized Bookmarks.

This time, I was inspired by paint chip art a la this pin and this pin, but of course I had to put my own bookish spin on it. I accomplished this by adding some book pages into the mix.

Take a gander at this beauty:

It was super easy to accomplish. Allow me to break it down for ya:

1. Go to your local home improvement store and scour the paint chip aisle for your desired colors. Don't let the judgmental  looks from the salespeople get to you-- so what you are snatching up colors for a good 20 minutes. Last time I checked, it's a free country and paint chips are free.
2. Cut out triangles from the chips and the book pages. I opted to take the pages out of the same book carcass I used for a previous craft project. As any true book lover should, I will use all parts of a book until there is no more.
3. Arrange and rearrange and rearrange your cut-outs some more until you are ready to pull your hair out. Then, take a break-- reading break, tea break, Doctor Who break, what have you. Finally, settle on a design already, you're taking forever.
4. Glue your pieces down, slap it in a frame, take a few pictures for bragging rights, and call it a day.

Here's some shots of my work-in-progress:

 As you can see, half the fun of the creative process is making a nice big ol' mess on the kitchen table.

My book page and paint chip art has yet to take up permanent residence anywhere, but I envision it as a part of my future frame gallery in the living room. I'll keep you updated :)

 

I am linking this project up here, here, here, and here if you are curious about other bloggers' Spring Pinterest Challenge projects.

Winter Pinterest Challenge: Personalized Bookmarks

It's Winter Pinterest Challenge Time! The bloggers behind Young House Love and Bower Power dreamed this challenge up, and I was thrilled to participate again-- I also played along this past summer when I created repurposed book page art.

This time, I was very much inspired by handmade bookmarks, as can be found on Pinterest here, here, and here.

Like my bookmark project of yore, I wanted to create something simple, modern, and of course, personalized. Bonus points for something quick to whip up without costing me a dime. So, I only used supplies I already had hidden deep within my crafting hoard: glue stick, craft paper, and card stock.

All I did was find quotes and fonts that I love, married the two together, and printed 'em out. Easy as pie.

 In case you were dying of curiosity or want to replicate what I've done, here are the quotes I used. Copy and paste these quotes to your hearts content.

“When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.”
-Jules Renard

“I only read what I am hungry for at the moment when I have an appetite for it, and then I do not read, I eat.”
-Simone Weil

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.”
- Franz Kafka

“Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read.”
-Raymond Carver

As usual, I had a ton of fun letting my creative juices flow. The project required little thought or concentration, which made for a nice stress reliever. I highly recommend this activity to all of my fellow bookworms out there!

I am linking this post up over at YHL, Bower Power,  Remodeled Life, and Decor and the Dog.

Stick a Plant in it!

Similar to "put a bird on it," yet decidedly more bookish.

via 1. Apartment Therapy 2. Etsy 3. Green Wedding Shoes

The only question that remains is this: can I overcome my reverence of vintage hardcovers to create a beautiful book planter such as the ones shown above?

Summer Pinterest Challenge: Repurposed Book Pages

Since I still seem to be on a bookish crafting roll, I thought I would embrace it and participate in YHL's Summer Pinterest Challenge this season. I've been following John and Sherry Petersik's blog for well over a year now, drooling over their DIY projects and house renovations, and now that I have a blog to display my own creative endeavors, I thought I'd jump in on this challenge.

I was very inspired by Crafty Texas Girls' Bookpage Monogram, Arrow & Apple's Bookpage Jars, and the Vintage Votives at Annaboo's House. Unable to settle on just one of these projects, I did one of each.

Each one took about 10 minutes or less. I have to say the most fun to do was my Bookpage Monogram. I loved picking out the font for the R & J. I might have even loved picking out the page to print on more [I chose a romantic scene, to keep the sentiment consistent, of course, haha.]

I'll be linking this project with the Summer Pinterest Challenge link-up over at Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June!

Bookish Crafting

Lately I've been in a reading rut. Don't get me wrong-- I'm still reading. I read at work on my breaks, but I gravitate towards a very specific literature while at work: humor. I like a quick laugh during my busy, fast-paced days to take the edge off. Tina Fey's Bossypants introduced me to just the right kind of escapism I needed. I savored her memoir, stretching it out over increments for weeks. When that came to an end, I picked up Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life, and though it's a coarser, more sexually-driven memoir, it still gives me a good laugh. Next on my list is David Sedaris' Naked. But like I said, those are my work reads; I've been avoiding reading on my days off. Every now and then I hit these reading dry-spells, usually after reading a series consecutively or after a really dense text. So I'm not gonna force it, and I'm just keeping the books on my Summer Reading List shelved for now.

However, that doesn't mean I've strayed from my bookish ways. After losing a few hours of my life on Pinterest the other night, I was feeling crafty. Tired of being a spectator, I wanted to to participate. My favorite board is my Because I'm a Bookworm board, and after adding a few new pins and drooling over the old ones, I felt inspired. So, I dug into my ridiculously large scrap-booking hoard and got crafting.

Less than an hour later, I had four new bookmarks! I was going for simple, sweet, and personalized. Here's what I ended up with:

I made the shorter two first. They were cute, but I wanted my next two to have some height. Action shot! bahaha.

Another action shot in one of my favorite chapters:

Yes, you read that correctly; it's directions on how to ride an ostrich.  You can peep the directions in Bunty Cutler's 211 Things a Clever Girl Can Do. A hilarious and educational read.

There you have them. My  new bookmarks. I figured it was high time I started using real ones. I always use paper scraps like shopping lists, junk mail, and napkins. I avoided putting too much detail into my new bookmarks as I don't trust myself not to lose them, and I don't want to cry over lost hours of creative genius. I'm also a believer in "less is more" when it comes to bookmarks. My mother used to buy me really beautiful, elaborate ones as gifts, but I would quickly become annoyed by the ribbons or the indents left in the book's interior from ornate embellishments pressing into the pages.

I forgot how fun it is to play with scissors, paper, and glue. I was riding a nice little crafting high afterwards [don't worry, the glue was non-toxic Elmer's, haha], and I couldn't help but beam with pride at my new bookmarks. 'Funny how something small and simple can be so invigorating.