And, For the Bookworms

I should have started a count of how many days it will be between noticing I have indoor trim to finish and the day I finally get to it. My friend Cindy said it will be at least 3 weeks. Or, Summer. Or, next year. She's right somewhere in there!

I not only have cool crafts to make, but I diverge this post for a sec to show off the new supply organizers!

Droooooool ...

We're looking at the clear, acrylic numbers up there! I did another mass-organization this past weekend of my supplies, and I realized I was in need of some more organizers (oh, DARN! 😀). I stumbled upon the one on the left at Marshalls yesterday in the bathroom section. It's supposed to be for organizing make-up and the such (but, it rings up at the register under "stationary" ... peculiar). Anyway, the clear-drawer situation is what sold me so I don't have to make labels or otherwise memorize where I put stuff. After I unwrapped it and confirmed the drawers pull out completely, I bee-lined it back to the store to get the one on the right. Drawers pulling completely out are key for me as I like to grab a drawer of supplies to relocate work spaces. These make me drool ...

So, what's been made and not bought? As promised, let's check out the book situation! I made a round of books a couple of weeks ago and loved how they turned out!

That just meant that I needed to make more! Here's how I do it:

First, I simply printed out book covers from Google images because I don't like most of the titles on the book cover printables sites. The fact is, the books on those sites tend to be way too sophisticated for me. Moby Dick, anyone? That's not my cup of tea. Instead, I found titles that mean something to me, personally, and there you have it.

After printing the covers, I use the Tim Holtz Micro Glaze to seal the ink. This is an important step so glue nor polyurethane makes the colors run:

You just rub a teeny, tiny dab of the stuff
all over the image, wipe it off, and PRESTO.
Sealed ink. And, it actually enhances the
color just a smidge!

After sealing, they all get trimmed. I figured out that using my cutter is easier than using the scissors like I did for the first round.

From there, I go into my stash-o-wood pieces from the Hobby Lobby "Wood Pile" collection ...

All sorted and ready to go. It's so lovely.

... and, I match up the closest size I can to the cover.

After marking the cover on the wood ...

... the wood gets a trim! I start this process with the miter saw, but I tend to finish it by sawing in the groove on the mat or trimming it with scissors:

I really don't know why I can't get all the way through one of these pieces in the miter box. But, I can't. So, I improvise, and it works.

So, here are the pieces for the upcoming books:

Each gets just enough sanding, if needed, to get splinters or other things that poke off of the piece.

I do not want to sand the sides smooth because the unevenness gives it a good texture like pages. And, as I choose not to make books that open, I like this particular illusion.

The next step is to paint the page edges. Before doing so, I line up the covers with the wood pieces in order. And, I keep them that way throughout the process.

This just saves thinking-time later. And, matching time. And,
frustration/annoyance energy.

Three of the sides -- so, not the spine -- get painted white. Then, I brush ever-so-slightly some gray on the white. If it's too dark, I just swipe it with white again and do it over. The goal is to enhance the page illusion. I like how they turn out:

It's super-subtle, but the gray makes quite a difference!

My next step is to paint the back cover and spine. To make it easy, I choose the main color of the real book. If I don't know what that is, I go with whatever works with the cover. I don't give this a ton of thought, so don't sweat it:

With this number of books and each cover having a unique color, I can go all BUCK WILD not keeping track of which is which! In my first batch, I had three with the same cover color and same relative size. That wouldn't be a problem if all of the books had been the exact size. Anyway ...

The next step is to slap the covers on with a little dab-o-glue from the stick:

And, then comes the making-it-pretty part!

I paint the top and sides, and, after painting all of them, I scoot them off of their original drying spots to make sure the polycrylic doesn't stick to the wax paper. It will certainly come off, but it will also take a little of the sheen from the finish if the wax dries to it. Just a little scoot after they've sat for a few minutes takes care of that problem.

The result!

You'll note that they are not pristine in terms of the edges. But, I do that on purpose with the kid books (I took a wee bit more -- no more than that, though -- time to sand the edges and make it a little more "perfect" with the teen books in the first batch.). Well-loved kid books look a little tattered. If they are in perfect shape, they're not being read. 😀 My particular favorite is the "GoGos" book in the picture. My Boy had that particular book. It's a sticker book for the collectible miniature GoGos figures. He carried that book everywhere and absolutely wore it ragged from studying each picture days on end! This one looks much like the one he had (that I have stashed *sigh*). I'm also a fan of the "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" one because I specifically remember ordering that from the Scholastic form in elementary school! Those were the days ...

These books add a lot of character smattered throughout the house. In particular, I love this little scene:

What's up next? Tune in to see what happens when that little baby hops off of Grandpa's lap and gets down to play!