Friend - Book Art

Thought I'd share my finished 'friend' Book Art that I uploaded to Creative Together earlier in the week.

I used a paperback book as I knew I would decorate the outside therefore making it sturdier in the end. Plus not everyone has room for larger books. Here's the finished item -

The papers are from Craftwork cards and I added the gorgeous tape measure ribbon. I finished it off with simple ribbon which also keeps the book in place so that the word is shown at its best.

You can purchase this Book Art HERE

I will keep sharing different items we have in our shop so pop back anytime or visit our Facebook page

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 344 - dog on the desk!

Happy New Year everyone!

I don't know about you, but to me 2016 sounds quite futuristic. I don't know why. Just another random Zoe thing. 

Anyway I'm here to share my desk as per our leader Julia asks us to join in. Who am I to refuse?!

As you can see there's the usual Book Art WIP, a pile of coloured pens I use in my new planner and some stickers that I love accented my pages with. Yes that is a PG Tips box. It's a good size and design so I'm going to cover it and turn it into a stationery box type thing!

Then there's this - Baxter - sat on my desk watching the world go by. He thought he'd take advantage of the fact that I've been working on the laptop this morning. I've not done any actual crafting yet just sorted photos of a new item I've added to Creative Together.

At least he is sitting nicely unlike yesterday when horses went by and he started barking at them. Tail swishing, pens flying and other stuff was sent off the desk! 

I soon scooped him up and plonked him back in his bed which is where he is now as I'm typing - 

Take care Zo xx

Saturday Share!

So I'm back for a Saturday Share - something I've made. Because I decided I needed to make the effort to share what I'm doing regularly. I've been teaching myself how to create book art as many of you know.

My plan is to make them as Christmas presents for friends and family.  Here are two of my latest makes for our friends - 

  So I've made this one for Sarah. Her favourite colour is green so I've decorated the cover with pretty green papers.

This one is for Imogen. Again I used pretty papers to decorate. The ribbons not only look pretty, but act as a tool to balance the book. The folded area can make the book tip forwards, but by tying it with a ribbon it rebalances the weight to stop this.

The other thing you have to remember is to check that the parts of writing that can be seen don't have anything inappropriate for the recipient ie swear words etc. It doesn't look good if there are any!

So I've checked my daily Q & A journal and it asks - 

Write down someone you had a good conversation with recently.

Well that is easy for me this week as my best friend Debs, who also has a blog

 http://debspenpot.blogspot.co.uk/

came to see me on Monday. So we had a really good chat and put the world to rights as per usual. Seeing Debs always boosts my mood. I am lucky to have friends who support me and help me whenever I need them.

You should pop over to Deb's blog - she has just had her story about her cat Ebony published!! Very exciting!  

Take care Zo xx

 

That book folding lark!

So many of you will have seen the beautiful book art that seems to be everywhere. I'm a book lover. I've read all my life so the thought of tampering with a book in such a way horrified me to start. But then I realised I could actually preserve unwanted books this way. That a book could now be treasured instead of scrapped/charity-shopped. 

So I bought myself the Book Art software which means I can create my own designs (you can buy patterns but having my own will save money in long run). The software does need an image that is already silhouetted/black like this -

I created this in my CraftArtist Pro 2 software and saved as a JPG. This can then be uploaded to the bookart programme. You do need to enter the specific details for your book. It's height and how many sheets (not pages). I see how many marked pages there are and divide that by 2. Then I add the unnumbered pages to get my total. The software then works out how many pages your design needs (it tells you if your book isn't big enough as well) and gives you the measurements for each page.

 I always measure down from the top of the book.

 You fold the pages to your marks. I makes sure each fold is crisp and I stick it down as I go.

This is what it looks like as you go. It makes little sense to start but the more you do the more the design comes to live. 

Here's a couple I've already made - 

 A simple heart design I made for my friend's wedding anniversary.

 A Butterfly for my friend's birthday.

So I'm learning as I go and enjoying the process. I find it very therapuetic!

Take care Zo x