And so, as much as I am enjoying Netfilx and rewatching some of my favorite series or reading books that have been on the stack for much too long, I still can't seem to be content without a craft project. And, even with ALL of the craft supplies I have on hand, I don't have a lot of the things that I am wanting for spring ideas.
And so, I found myself wishing I could come up with something like my burlap door hangers where I could do a different one for each holiday/season. And then, as I was moving things around for Easter, it dawned on me. I could make a set of the painted books for each holiday. I have already made Home Sweet Home, Happy St. Patrick's Day, and Happy Easter...that leaves something for 4th of July, spring, summer, autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day. I have already started looking at Pinterest and there are so many ideas.
And then, when I realized that that wouldn't keep me busy for too, too long even if I limited myself to one a day, I did something I hardly ever do...I got online and ordered a big ol' bucket of wood beads. I decided I would make a wood bead garland to go with each set of books. And, boy am I glad I didn't donate all of the hundreds of books we had...just saying!
And so for today, I am starting on the 4th of July.
I usually use an Exacto knife to run along the inside of the spine on the book. I start in the front and pull as much as I can towards the back. Then it is a simple matter of a quick cut along the back of the book and the cover comes off. You can paint the books with the covers on but I like the more rustic look without them. I have always used chalk paint for the book stacks. It goes on so nicely without over-wetting the paper and dries pretty quickly.
I prefer the stamps that peel off and are put onto a clear, acrylic block. That way, when you put the ink on and go to stamp, you can see exactly where the image will be. I used regular rubber stamps on the first set I did because I liked the font but they were so much harder to get even...not to mention the overage of ink that gets on the edges and smears on the book.
I thought I could print the whole word at once with these stamps - and, if I was stamping on a smooth surface, I could - but I soon learned that with the "shabbiness that I like so much on the spines comes a lot of uneveness and it is almost impossible to get a good impression of all of the letters when doing it that way. For me, it was just easier to do one letter at a time.
Because the letter stamps are so small and need to be peeled off of the acrylic block, ink on my fingers is almost impossible to avoid and since I don't want to transfer that on to my pristinely painted book, I keep a lot of Lysol wipes handy to clean off my fingers and also to lay the used stamps down on. I put them ink side down and give them a little press when I do it and it makes their clean-up almost done.
Since I really have no pre-conceived idea where these are going to go or how they will be decorated, I decided to put a piece of themed scrapbook paper on the top for now. I thought I had starred paper - which I think I will still look for when I can get out again - but for now, I went with the plaid.
I used a smidge of distress ink just to "shabby" it up a bit.
I tied it up with red, white and blue twine and it will probably be OK just like this because I may end up tucking in a small American flag or sitting something "patriotic" on top of it. But, just for now...
I went into my 4th of July stash and grabbed this flag hang tag. It just needed a little something...until it needs a little something else. Lol
I just got word that the wooden beads will arrive on Monday so this book stack will soon have a bead garland joining it. Until then, I think I will move along to my "spring" stack. Stay safe and stay tuned.
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