Star Book Tutorial

Star books are such a great way to display atcs or photos, and they're not as difficult to make as you might think. Here's how to make a colorful 4 1/2" x 6" book like this one, perfect for spring-themed atcs or whatever you wish.

Supplies Needed

2 pieces of sturdy matboard: 4 1/2" x 6"

2 pieces of cover paper for matboard cover: 6" x 7 1/2"

Black pages, 7 pieces cardstock: 4 1/2" x 12"

Small red filler pages: 14 pieces of cardstock: 4 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Red pages, 7 pieces of cardstock: 4 1/2" x 9"

Cream pages, 7 pieces of cardstock: 6 1/2" x 8"

Beads for spine decoration (optional)

2 yards waxed linen thread

At least 2 feet of ribbon for closure

PVA glue

Glue Stick

Double Sided Tape

Tracing paper

Let's start with the cover. Using a glue stick, glue your matboard onto the wrong side of the cover paper you have chosen, and trim the corners as shown. Carefully fold the sides in and glue securely to the back of the cover. Decorate the covers any way you like. I used paper flowers and images from The Lovely Garden collage sheet from Alpha Stamps.




Now, let's fold the first of your pages: the black pages and the small red filler pages. Fold the black pages in half so that you have 7 folded sheets measuring 4 1/2" x 6". Fold the small red filler sheets so that you have 14 folded sheets that are 4 1/2" x 1 1/4". These are the pages that will actually be sewn, with the red papers inside the fold of the black page.

Make a template for your stitching out of tracing paper. Mark the top and bottom of the pages, and make four marks for the holes you will punch. The top and bottom holes (end holes) should be about 1/2" from the edge of the pages, and the two center holes should be about 1 1/2" from the edges. Use this template to punch holes in each of the seven nested signatures with an awl or needle punch. Each signature should have one black sheet, with two of the smaller red sheets nestled within.

Thread your waxed linen with two needles, one at each end. Take the first signature (one black page with two red pages inside) and thread the needles from the inside to the outside through the two center holes. Then cross the needles and thread them back through the center holes towards the inside of the signature. Bring each needle back to the outer spine of the signature through its closest end hole.

Now add the second signature. Thread the two needles through the corresponding end holes to the inside of the second signature from the outside spine, and pull the thread fairly snug. On the inside of this signature, thread each needle through its nearest center hole to the outside of the spine. On the 2nd, 4th, and 6th signature, add beads if desired. Thread them through one needle and then thread the other needle through the beads before going back through the center hole to the inside of the signature. Then, thread the needles back out through the end holes as before. Continue sewing each set of your seven signatures in this way. On the pages that don't have beads, just cross the threads before going back through the center holes.When you have added the last signature, you will end up with the needles on the inside of the pages in the center holes. Tie the threads off with a square knot. Whew! That was the most tedious part.

When the book is closed, you will have six sets of black pages that are back to back. Using a glue stick, carefully glue these six sets together, so that each set makes one page. Set the book under some weights to let it dry.

Meanwhile, fold your remaining pages. Fold the red pages in half so that you have seven 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" pages. Fold the cream pages in half for seven  6 1/2" x 4" pages. Fold the 6 1/2" side of the cream paper up two inches to make a pocket. This page should now be 4 1/2" x 4". If you wish, round the corners of the pocket with a corner punch. Then, using a thin doublestick tape, affix tape to the outside edges of the pockets where they will fold up. Attach double stick tape to the outside edges of all the red pages where they will affix to the black.

Attach the taped outside edge of each red page to the outside edge of a black page. Make sure the edges line up well. Press firmly to adhere. When all the red pages have been attached, go back and attach the outside edge of the cream pages to the edges of the red pages in the same manner.




Once all your pages are affixed, attach ribbons to the outer sides of your book block with double stick tape. Glue the covers to the book block, using PVA glue. Make sure that the covers are lined up and the edges are affixed well. Put the book under heavy weights, and allow that glue to dry!

Now you have a beautiful Star book with a beaded spine. Decorate the inside pages and fill it with your favorite little works of art.
















You can change the dimensions of the cover and pages to make any size book. Here's one I made with triangular pockets and extra embellishments to hold "Comedians in B&W" atcs.

Language of Flowers ATCs

Alpha Stamps is hosting a Language of Flowers atc swap this month, so they asked the design team to create a few atcs. I am still having so much fun with the Little Darlings collage sheet that I decided to use a couple of the kids for the cards. Party hats, butterfly wings, and flowers. Everyone's happy, with the exception of that poor boy on the right with his sad tale of woe. Am I a bad person because he makes me laugh? Probably.

I created a Star book to display these cards. On Wednesday, I'll publish it along with a full tutorial. Come back and see me then!

Playing Around With Spellbinders' Media Mixáge Line

One of the perks of my job as a contractor for Craftster.org is that occasionally some of our wonderful sponsors send me products to try out. I love that! Recently, Spellbinders sent me products from their new line, Media Mixáge, which is tailored for the mixed media artist. Look at the goodies they sent! There's the new Artisan X-plorer Machine, a paper pack, some dies, texture plates, ICE resin, and round bezels and bezel dies. The wonderful thing about this line is that the dies cut shapes that fit exactly into the bezels. No awkward edges or ill fitting pieces here.

This was my first project using the largest bezel, which is about 2 1/4" across. I filled all these bezels with resin after adding the art and other elements.

Then, I got frisky and used a pig image from their paper pack. I added a little tutu and the words "oink (oink)" cut from an old dictionary. I love the little rubber pig at the top. I glued some magnets to the back of this so I can keep it on my fridge. You know, as a reminder: only one pig per household!

For my last (and favorite) project, I finally tackled the smallest of the bezels. I used a bee image from some Graphic 45 paper, some glitter, and a foam dot to raise the image of the bee and give the pendant some dimension. The bee charm is from Alpha Stamps.

Spellbinders sells packages of five of the smaller sized bezels. They also have them in other shapes, like hearts, triangles, and squares. I'm definitely going to have to make more of these for gifts for this Christmas. Thanks again, Spellbinders! To read more about how I made each of these projects, click here to go to the Craftster blog.

The Doubtful Guest

I love the works of Edward Gorey. I just participated in a Gorey swap on Craftster.org. It was harder than I thought it would be to think of things to make. I didn't want to try to do illustrations like his; he's definitely one of a kind. I finally settled on trying to recreate The Doubtful Guest, an interesting little fellow that popped up one day and unexpectedly moved in with family, creating chaos and discomfort. I made my doubtful guest out of paperclay. He's a little fatter than the original, but maybe that's because he made himself at home in the pantry and fridge.

 

Instead of trying to paint the texture from the drawing, I drew on the figure with a Sharpie. Actually, a couple of Sharpies; they tend to dry out and die fairly quickly when drawing on paperclay. I was lucky enough to have some black and white striped fabric that was perfect for his scarf. It's even got enough body to it to look like it's flowing out behind him. A painted trinket box from Michaels is the base. I really love the stark black and white: just like a Gorey illustration!

I don't work much with clay at all, but I am pretty happy with this Doubtful Guest. I hope my swap partner liked him as well. 

 

Billy and Tess at the Circus

Alpha Stamps came out with another great collage sheets containing vintage images of kids. I saw these two children standing together and decided to send them to the circus. Once they were there, they chose to dress like clowns. Billy and Tess: who knew?

I was happy I had an old sardine tin ready to use, because putting the hats on the kids made them too tall for an Altoids tin.

The sardine tin is a bit of an odd shape, and had a little metal lip around the opening. I gave that a scattering of gold glitter, then glued on some red and white baker's twine and surrounded it all with black pom poms. The image of the kids was colored with Copic markers. I added the polka dots to Tess' shirt and the stripes to her leggings with the marker. I also gave them some skin tone, but not on their faces because I wanted them to look like they had some white makeup on. Billy's hair was done with colored pencils before I cut the image out, and their flag was cut out from scrapbook paper.

The top medallion is fan-folded scrapbook paper, with Alphabet Baby Beads. I colored those beads with the Copics, too, because they were just too white to go with the rest of the tin. Because of the pom pom border, the tin wouldn't stand alone. I glued a thin wooden block onto the base for stability.

Have fun at the circus, kids!

Beyond the Bunny Dome

Alpha Stamps is now carrying cute little plastic domes. They're actually meant to be snow globes, but I made something Easter-y out of mine: two little rabbit pals chatting it up, surrounded by spring flowers and little chickies. The rabbits were made by lopping off the heads of some vintage images of children and adding heads from some German scrap. A little vicious, perhaps, but occasionally one must suffer for art.

Isn't that little picket fence the cutest? Just about all the supplies to make this can be found at Alpha Stamps. I might need to stock up on those domes and make some circus- or Halloween-themed scenes.

Altered Easter Egg

What do you do when someone hands you a paper maché egg and asks you to make something out of it? I cut a little door into mine and then covered it and the egg with Russian text tinted with Copic Markers. I added few flower sequins, some tiny pearls, and a lovely golden crown to top it off.

The egg is resting in a little nest I've had for a while, and sitting on a painted and embellished candle cup.

What's inside?

I couldn't resist sticking some of those chenille chicks I remember from my childhood in there. Peep peep!

Most of the supplies I used, including the egg, the wooden stand, and the sequins and ribbons, can be found at Alpha Stamps.