Turning Books into Art

I've been hearing a lot about the challenge group Color Combos Galore lately, so I decided to check it out.  Their color challenge for this week (lavender + brown + white + red) is absolutely delightful, so I decided to give it a whirl.  I created a layout called "Words are Wings" (below).

Supplies: cardstock (all from Wausau Paper), chipboard butterflies (DCWV), book pages (vintage), ink (Versa Color), alphabet stickers (Bo-Bunny), border sticker (Doodlebug Design), foam stickers (Darice), buttons (Blumenthal Lansing), twine (vintage), wire (Artistic Wire), pen (Zig).

In addition to using the color combination for the week, I also used the design prompt, which was to use text-patterned paper and journal about reading/literature.  My journaling reads: "May books always bring you flights of fancy, my boy!"  To go along with that idea, I created text-filled butterfly embellishments.

There are a lot of wonderful text-print patterned papers available, but I decided to make my own page elements by recycling pages from old books.  Normally, I would never dream of removing pages from books, but these old Bobbsey Twins books (above) just had to go.  My mom enjoyed them when she was a kid, and I enjoyed them when I was a kid, and I thought I could pass them along to the next generation to enjoy anew...but when I re-read them I discovered that the books are no longer appropriate for children.  Although these copies of the books were printed in the 1950's, the text is obviously the original 1904 and 1907 stories, since the Bobbseys travel by horse and buggy in the books.  There is nothing wrong with traveling by horse and buggy, but I do object to many of the attitudes in the stories.  In one book, a bully leaves a dead rat on the Bobbseys' stoop on Valentine's Day!  In the other book, small children play with fireworks without adult supervision!  And don't even get me started on the racial stereotypes in both books!!!  Let's just say that in the twenty-first century these books are better off being turned into scrapbooking embellishments.

I used some DCWV chipboard butterflies as templates and traced their shapes onto book paper (see above).  For each butterfly, I slightly varied the layout and orientation of the text.  Then I glued the cutouts atop the chipboard, inked the edges for an aged look, and added details.  The larger butterflies (first photo below) each have a twine-threaded button for decoration.  The smaller butterfly (second photo below) has a body made of foam stickers and little antennae fashioned from beading wire.

I may be just a bit biased, but I think my kiddo looks awfully cute when he's reading (see four photos below).  :)

I really enjoyed my first Color Combos Galore challenge.  I will definitely keep participating in this group!