WOYWW #8 and A Tutorial

This is going to be an especially looooonngg post, but I promise it will satisfy your curiosity as well as your creative hunger!!

Welcome to my 8th edition of WOYWW!!  If you're not familiar with WOYWW, click the button above.

This week I've been busy deconstructing antique books.  At the bottom of this post there is a tutorial on how to take apart books and remove the individual pages with as little damage as possible.

Before I get to the pages, let me tell you why I'm taking apart so many books...

Basically, I'm a craft supply shopaholic and found some great deals online.  Soon I'll be selling excess ephemera in my new Etsy and Artfire shops.

Now lets get to WOYWW...

Here are just a few of the deconstructed books.  The piles in the bottom row are all part of an 1880 hymnal that I was in the process of taking apart.  The small stack in the back is another 1880 hymnal that I'd already finished (I have 10 total).

 The ginormous stack on the blue case, is made up of pages from 3 antique books dating from 1877 to 1942. 

Here's a close-up of the 1877 dictionary pages...

When I start listing some of this ephemera on Etsy and Artfire, my plan is to offer a wide variety of themed packs such as the ones below.

For those of you that have been wondering where I disappeared to, now you know what I've been up to!  Don't worry, the Crafty St. Patty's Party will resume shortly and the March Madness Giveaway will begin tomorrow!!  Included in each of the 10 prizes will be some of this 100-year-old ephemera!!  Pretty cool, huh? 

TUTORIAL: DECONSTRUCT AN ANTIQUE BOOK

Note: This is a very messy project so be prepared to clean up when you're finished!! 

SUPPLIES

Antique Book

Craft knife & mat (optional)

The book I'm taking apart is a Lutheran hymnal from 1880.

Step 1: REMOVE COVER

Using whatever means necessary, remove the covers and as much of the spine as possible.

You may want to use a craft knife to separate the covers from the first and last pages.  With really old books, the covers will almost fall right off!

This was just something neat I found inside the spine of one of the 1880 hymnals.  It looks as though the covers and spine were actually made from old newspapers!!  And to think that we consider recycling and reusing a new thing!! 

Step 2: BREAK INTO SECTIONS 

Take a close look at your book and you'll see that the pages are actually "signatures" sewn and glued together.  If you're familiar with book binding you'll already be familiar with signatures.

In order to remove more of the spine and glue and also to help make the next step a little easier, separate your book into smaller sections.

Note: When you create your sections, make sure you do it between the signatures and not in the middle of one.

Step 3: SEPARATE SIGNATURES 

Gently pull apart the signatures from the binding.

This part is really messy.

Step 4: TEAR (CUT) PAGES

You'll notice that most of the signatures will still have some glue on them so you'll need to try and remove as much as you can.  It usually scrapes off, but if you're having a tough time, try opening the signature and removing the glue while it's open.

Open the signature to center.  Depending on your own personal preference either gently tear or cut the signatures down the center.  If you choose to cut the signatures, I highly recommend a craft knife and cutting mat.

FINISHED

Ta da!!  Now you have hundreds of great antique ephemera pages!!

Unfortunately you're also left with a huge mess to clean up!!  This little photo doesn't even begin to cover the mess from this project!!

If you're nit-picky like me, you'll want to separate the pages by topic!! hehehe

Be sure to stop by tomorrow so you can enter my March Madness Giveaway for your chance to win one of 10 crafty supply packs valued at $10 or more each!!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

WOYWW #7

Yay!! It's time for WOYWW!!  This is so much fun!!

In case you don't know, WOYWW stands for What's On Your Work-desk Wednesday.  You can read more about it by clicking the button below!!

This week, I'm not showing my work area (I know, shame on me), but instead I got some new goodies in the mail to show you.

I purchased these gorgeous printer's trays from this seller on eBay.  They were only about $17 each after S&H!!

Of course my cat, Willy, had to inspect them too!!  He approves!!

If anyone knows a good way to clean these printer's trays, please let me know!!  I don't want to damage them while trying to clean them so your advice would definitely be appreciated!!

Last week I'd ordered some supplies from Joann's for my upcoming SMASH series.  I got a great deal because everything was 40% off, plus I had a coupon for free S&H!!  Woot!!  Here are the goodies I received...

Hopefully next week I'll have pictures of my current crafty projects to show you, but in all honesty, this IS what I'm working on right now!! hehehe

Thanks for reading!!  Until next time...

WOYWW #6

I know it's now Thursday, but hey, better late than never, right?!?

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last WOYWW post!!  I'm so happy to be doing well enough this week to be able to share my current projects with you!!

This week I'm working on some wall art for my friend's nursery.  She's decorating her daughter's room with a bird theme and I've offered to help with a lot of the decor.

I'm working on a few altered art pieces including birdhouses for the mobile, a couple shadow boxes, an altered puzzle, and a few others.  Here are six of "projects" laid out for you to see...

I know it's kind of hard to make everything out, but I'll try to explain what they are for you.  Starting in the upper left corner are the birdhouses for the moible, next to them is a "Shadow Box #1" and "Shadow Box #2".  The 3 frames in the bottom row are for a piece of name art, the framed altered puzzle, and a framed lullaby project.

Here's a close up of the project I'm most excited about right now...

It's a basic, single-cubby shadow box, but soon it'll be the home of a little bird and it's nest...and more of course!!  

Thanks for checking out my current projects!!  I'll be back next week (on time) and will probably have made some progress on these projects by then!!

Thanks for reading!!  Until next time...

WOYWW #5

Welcome to my 5th What's On Your Work-desk Wednesday!!

Today I've been working on a lot of beaded jewelry and accessories and loving every minute of it!!  Beading was the first craft genre that I really got into after becoming disabled and it was wonderful therapy for well over a year, maybe two.  I eventually got a bored with beading and decided to venture into other genres and I'm glad I did.  However, it's always nice to go back to my first crafting love, beading!!

Here's what my desk looked like just a little while ago...

Because of my lack of work space, I sort my different beading projects into separate craft cups (not cupcake liners) so that I don't have to keep a bunch of supplies near by, plus it keeps the beads from getting mixed up.

I was able to finish the two projects in the lower right cups pretty quickly and thought I'd show them to you!!

These are earrings for someone I'm doing a craft swap with.  She asked for "dangly" earrings and these are 2 of the designs I came up with...

For more information about WOYWW, visit the blog that started it all, Stamping Ground.

A Quick Note...

I'm sure many of you have noticed that I haven't posted daily over the past week.  Between my mum visiting and a flare-up of my medical conditions, I haven't felt up to posting each day.  As you know I have a big surgery coming up on the 8th so I'm also working on the posts that need to be scheduled for during my recovery.  I really appreciate your patience and understanding!!  I guarantee I'll be back to the tutorial posting crazed blogger that you all know and love really soon!! hehehe

Thanks for reading!!  Until next time...

Tutorial: Lace Storage Solution (& WOYWW #4)

My love of lace had recently caused me a big problem... how in the world to store it all!!

At first, I had the lace rolled up in little zip lock baggies and stored in plastic shoe bins, like the rest of my craft supplies.  However, after my latest order of lace, I would've needed to use over 6 plastic containers to store it all!!  I just didn't have enough shelf space for that.

Out of necessity, I finally figured out a better storage method and today I'm going to share with you my Lace Storage Solution.

SUPPLIES

Plastic back-of-the-door shoe organizer

5+ sheets of 12"x12" chipboard

Paper slicer or scissors

Lace/trim to be stored

Step 1: CUT CHIPBOARD CARDS

Cut the chipboard sheets into cards that measure 3"x9".

You should be able to get 5 cards from each 12"x12" sheet of chipboard.

Step 2: WRAP LACE ON CARDS

Wrap your lace/trim on the chipboard cards as shown above.

Continue wrapping until all of your lace/trim is on cards.

Step 3: HANG SHOE ORGANIZER

Hang the plastic shoe organizer on the back of your door.

Step 4: ADD CARDS TO POCKETS

Place the lace-wrapped chipboard cards into the organizer pockets.

Note: I had so many cards full of lace that I had to put 2 cards in some of the pockets.  They did fit.

FINISHED!!

WOYWW #4

My hubby is out of town for a couple weeks and then I'm having my surgery so my mum is staying with me for over a month.  YAY!!  I'm absolutely loving having her here with me and will miss her terribly when she eventually has to go back home.

Since my mum needs something to do while I obsessively craft, I let her use my lap desk and laptop, which is my usual "work desk".  Here she is playing her games on my laptop...

As for me, I'm using a wooden painting station as my "work desk" and it's working out quite well!!

You can see the many projects I'm currently working on in the photo above.  Here's the list of what's on this little "lap desk"...

1) Wooden bird houses to alter

2) Clothes pins to make into magnets

3) A heart-shaped box to paint & decorate

4) Beads for pea pod pendants

I absolutely have crafting ADD!!  I can't just work on one or two projects at a time, I usually have about 5 going at once!! hehehe

For those that are new to my blog and my WOYWW, the reason I don't have a "real" work desk is because I'm disabled and spend most of my time in my recliner.  My lap desk and arms of the recliner are my work area.

Thanks for reading!!  Until next time...

Blog Updates & WOYWW #3

www.lisas-craft-blog.com

I'm so excited!!  I registered a new domain name for this blog!!  While you can still find everything at the old "blogspot" address, you can also use www.lisas-craft-blog.com!!  I'm in the process of changing everything over to the new address.

Another change coming soon is another change to the look of Lisa's Craft Blog.  While I was originally happy with the current layout, I've come to the conclusion that it's just not what I want.  You can look forward to a much simpler layout that isn't so colorful.  I'm thinking of using either a linen or burlap textured background similar what I used for the new button.  What do you think about a simpler layout?

WOYWW #3

I know I'm a bit late today, but better late than never, right?!?  Let's get to the picture...

There are actually two projects in progress in this picture.

At the top you can see the felt and those weird looking things.  Those are actually going to be magnets!!  The tutorial is coming this Saturday so be sure to check back!!

Towards the bottom is a bunch of beading supplies.  I'm working on some jewelry for Grandmaw, my grandmother-in-law.  My hubby is going to go visit his grandparents for a couple weeks and I'm just sending some goodies with him to give to Grandmaw.  I'll share some pictures of the finished earrings in a future post. 

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

WOYWW #2

Welcome to the 2nd ever WOYWW at Lisa's Craft Blog!!  I'm really beginning to love the middle of the week!!

First let me explain my work area for those that weren't here last week...

I'm disabled and even though I have a complete room full of crafting supplies, I'm unable to sit at a desk for any length of time.  I spend most of my time in my recliner where I've managed a system of crafting on my lap-desk and using the arms of the recliner as storage space.  

Yesterday, I set out to take my photos for this week's WOYWW, but my 16-year-old tuxedo cat, Willy, decided it was time for a kitty photo shoot.  Who was I to argue?!?!

This was supposed to be a photo of the ribbon and stickers I'm using on my "52 Reasons I Love Hubby" deck of cards. However, Willy decided he should be the focus of this photo.

This photo of my work area (aka laptop keyboard) was going to show the deck of cards book I'm working on, but Willy was being all cute and pawing at the air to get my attention.  It totally worked.

By this time, he'd squeezed all 18lbs into my lap!!  At least you can see most of my work area in this photo!!

This is where I totally gave in and started taking pictures of Willy!!  Here he is passed out in my arms.

After he took the nap in my arms, he moved to the back of my recliner where he stayed perched for about 30 minutes before going to his bed (aka the other recliner).

I hope you enjoyed this weeks kitty photo shoot...err...I mean, WOYWW!!  hehehe See you next week!!

Thanks for reading!! until next time...