Monday, April 24, 2017

My Other Creations: Altered Board Book Ephemera File

No one has to twist my arm to "put a number on it," which is this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme.  While math is my eternal nemesis, I do love numbers in an artistic sense.  For my project, I altered a board book by turning it into a folder to hold ephemera.  


My toddler has a special talent for destroying board books (my librarian side has to take calming Yoga breaths when I see that this has happened).  So I decided to take a broken board book and break it further.  I cut all the inside pages out, which left a hollow folder shell.  I traced the cover of the board book onto Strathmore Mixed Media paper so I'd have the correct size of cover art to make.  Then I made a collage out of patterned paper, Washi tape and paint.



I added blue and black paint around the edges.


I added a bit more white here and there and then glued on the decorative elements.  Then I got ready to glue my cover onto the broken-open board book (which you can see behind my cover).



Onto decorating the inside!  More collaging.  This is the inside left page...



And here's the inside right cover.  On this side, I punched holes and inserted eyelets so that I could lace some elastic ribbon through.  I used two strips of elastic ribbon to be able to hold my ephemera in place.



And here's how it looks in action as it holds some scraps and cards and paper pieces:



At the end of the day, my librarian self felt heroic for saving a broken book and my artsy self is excited to have a place to stash more stuff.



Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:



I'm sure you will find all sorts of easy ways to "put a number on it" this week, so be sure to upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

And speaking of Simon, if you're in the Ohio area this weekend, don't forget that Simon Says Stamp is having its fabulous Create event.  The tickets to the event have sold out, but they will have an on-site store and wonderful "create and takes" that are ready to go!



And it's always good to shop 24/7 online at Simon Says Stamp, too!