Friday, June 5, 2009

Homemade Book of Tea-Stained Paper

The Little Ladies and I have been busy making homemade books lately. I don't see us ever buying a journal or blank book again. Book making is so much fun and we can make the books exactly how we want them. The first book we'd like to share is the ladies' field guides of magical creatures. We wanted a weathered look to these field guides so we used our tea-stained cardstock.


We punched three holes down the left side of the cardstock and added 1 inch book rings to keep the pages together.


We don't do any book making without our favorite art supplies: woodless color pencils, oil pastels and watercolors!


The watercolors do incredibly well on the tea-stained cardstock. The girls spend many afternoons under the oak tree painting in their field guides.



We made pages that open out, and stapled pockets into the books to hold feathers and other treasures.



We used a thick ribbon of ric-rac for a bookmark by tying it to the top ring.


The Little Ladies' books have legends and lore of plants that grow in our yard. We taped down the plants with wide packing tape.


The books also have notes and illustrations of sprite and fairy sightings. We see them quite often zipping in and out of the plants. "Is it a fairy or is it a bee, it is too quick to be sure what I see!"



This type of book is nice because you can move around the pages and add more if the need be. Enjoy!

21 comments:

SE'LAH... said...

makes my heart sing.

how beautiful.

you and the princesses are soooo talented.

Stephanie said...

So darling.
I'm pretty sure Trev's not interested, but I should definitely put some pages together for Maddie - then I'd have her collection all together. Great idea!
I love woodless colored pencils - I have only two Prismacolor art stix, but I want more!

therese said...

great idea with the fold out pages and stapled pockets!

Jeannette said...

Those are the most magical books I´ve ever seen! Please tell your little ladies I just love, love, love what they made. The fold out page is just gorgeous.
Have a great weekend, Jeannette

Crescent Moon said...

Those are fantastic!

Jess said...

What a great idea, and so sweetly executed.

Anonymous said...

Aaaaah, stapled pockets! Wondered how we'd preserve our treasures. Of course, most of ours are 3-D (pine cones, stones, etc.), but it's a great start!

The Magic Onions said...

I adore their words! Too magical!

Sherry Gann said...

~~~love~~~

:)

karen said...

Gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. The fairies and sprites are sure celebrate over your artists' lovely creations!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Those are gorgeous! You girls are so, so, SO creative, I just love coming by here every day. I never would have thought to watercolor on tea stained paper, this is fantastic! I'll be linking.

Stacy said...

Oh my gosh, those field books are the cutest thing I've ever seen. Makes me wish I was a little girl again so I could sit in a garden and paint and write about fairies. Oh wait, who says big girls can't do that, too? ;-)

Alisha said...

those are so awesome! i can't wait to do the same with my own children.

Annie said...

I love the ric rac bookmark and those pictures are amazing!

Bleeding Heart said...

Come grab your awards at my blog!

jane said...

another great project. looks like you are having great weather. we are back to coats and boots... happy weekend lisa!

kyndale said...

beautiful and I love the idea of using the rings to add and move around.

sunnymama said...

These books look so special made with the tea stained paper. Really lovely :)

Juana said...

Sweet and magic as always! Have a nice weekend!

Tan Family said...

I love these! The books came out beautifully. Working on them outside is a bonus!

Super Fun Mama said...

I bet this will be such a wonderful memory when they are grown up. I bet when they open a trunk and find their books they made, it is going to bring back such memories of their childhood.