Upcycling Classes--Now Available

This is so cool!!!

I taught the above upcycling of paperback books classes at the library last spring, now they are officially listed as a workshop you can request through the library's Borrow a Librarian program :)

Orem Public Library Borrow a Librarian

Scroll down to . . . # 11 where you will see the following:

 

11. Upcycling Paper Art    

Have a few too many books taking up room on your shelves? Borrow a librarian and learn how to bring some of those books back to life, albeit in an ‘altered state.” Part origami and part inspiration,  this creative paper art is loads of fun.

 I had so much fun that I also made a few other items - -

 Mini Books

 Book Purses

 Cut-out Cover Art

Making Mini Book Charms, more Upcycling

Love the Little Things -- 

Another Upcycling installment


*Upcycling--for me--is all about taking something of no value, or extremely little value and turning it into something to treasure. These little things, due to their unique quirks, oddities and individual flaws, are precious to me . . . I hope you too can find the joy in making little treasure of your own--and maybe saving a little bit of space in that landfill . . .

Making Miniature Leather Charm-Sized Books

SUPPLIES:

PVA Book Glue
Small paint brush
Water and paper towels for clean-up
Weight
Rotary Cutter and self-heal mat and ruler, or a steady hand a good pair of scissors

Leather scraps



Some salvaged headbands (look closely at an old bound book, you'll see them. I saved these from last month's Upcycled Flowers and Folded Dresses)



A stack of old magazines, glue-bound--NOT staple-bound!





And a big paper cutter -- very big -- this is the hardest thing to come by for us ordinary folks. A lot of copy places have access, but at $1.00 per cut, it gets a bit spendy, particularly when (contrary to the picture) you can only really cut one magazine at a time--otherwise they squish out and produce odd shaped mini textblocks.




1- I found it easiest to chop the ENDS off (spine in). I highly recommend only doing ONE magazine at a time. Brace the end so it doesn't squish out if you can. I used a weight (you will see it later)

2- Cut the long tall skinny cut first--about 3/4" wide, then chop into about 1" tall magazine textblocks

Chopped up magazines =  mini text blocks that are oh-so-cute!

Cutting the Leather Covers

Purses from Books -- Upcycling in the Library

Upcycled Book Purse! 

* Just a note: There are several ways of getting to the end product, and I will be demonstrating several of those ways at the upcoming Upcycling program this Saturday, 
but for now, I only have the pictures I have. If you find a better way, then feel free to modify and do it your way.

One Way of Making a Book

into a Cute Little Purse

Prepping the Cover

Measure the fabric

Pulling the pattern for the wedge pieces

Cutting the wedges

Guess what I've been up to . . .

Okay, so we aren't making ALL the items pictured here, but we are making trees, flowers, and the dresses if we have time. Just consider the additional items as inspiration.

Also, just got word that we are doing an additional Upcycling program!

 May 18, 

Saturday at noon

incorporating fabrics and leather 

-- yes, you heard me, leather.

Both programs are free of charge, no supplies necessary, and everyone who wants to will go home with projects they have made.


I'm so excited!!!

Quick Reference Links:
(hotlinking as I post. Inactive links = I've not posted yet)
 
Trees
Flowers
Dresses
Hearts
Mini Leather Books
Purses

Dressing the Naked Hand

Exciting news on the Puppetry book!

Dressing the Naked Hand

The World's Greatest Book on Puppets and Puppetry

The book cover, while still subject to last minute changes, is settled upon. Tentative release date August 2013 from Familius Publishing.
 (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it yet, or what the protocol is, but ... maybe soon)

The final illustrations, photos, and video should be finalized by the end of February.

And... one of my co-authors (Mark's talent is the reason I got into puppetry in the first place) was recently featured in the LDS Film Festival and he is also being featured in the upcoming 'Fab 50' issue of Utah Valley Magazine.

...and now, for your viewing pleasure, the film festival openers, featuring the puppets of Mark Pulham



Enjoy!

Upcycled Books / Folded Dresses

On a roll here . . .

Folded Paper Dresses

from Upcycled Paper Back Books
...as taught to me in this video

 Instructions

 

 

 

Upcycling Paperback Books

It's no secret that I work at the Orem Public Library.
Nor is it unheard of to learn that I am a bit of a crafter.
Neither is a real stretch to find out that I'm a dedicated life-long learner.

What does it all mean?

At long last, it's Project Time

You see, recently, as part of my quest to learn and master all that I can, I have been planning and creating with my library co-workers. And yes, I would absolutely love to have a store in the library, a store like you've probably not seen before, a store that (among it's many myriad things) would sell items like these
 . . .

PAPER FLOWERS

from

UPCYCLED PAPERBACK BOOKS

 
Here is how to do it, step by (hopefully easy to understand) step:

 

 

  

p.s. Using Double-sided tape can be difficult. Ditto with trying various crafting tape runners. I use my Framer's Tape Gun and it works very well.

And in the end, you get a little something like this:

p.s. Use old colored edges for a hint of color!

Puppets, More Puppets and some Costume prep

The 2011 22nd Annual Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is over.


If you missed it, watch for next year's event on Labor day Weekend.


Or, if you can't wait, there is the Midwinter TSI (Timpanogos Storytelling Institute) in February.

Lex loves helping mom work (scratch that...PLAY) in the Fanfare tent each year!




It's looking official - The OPL's Puppet Festival looks to be an annual thing from now on. Hundreds of kids came, enjoyed free puppet shows from 10-2, created their own marionettes and puppets in the free make and takes, and manipulated a giant marionette to boot. Yeah for some fabulously talented puppet volunteers in our community!

It's almost October!
It might be a tad early for Halloween... I take that back, it is not too early if you are a kid. Kids have been planning cotume choices since last November. So it's only early if you've lost some of that kid magic. In any case, I stumbled on some amazing fabrics a few weeks ago, mostly for use in library displays, but one piece in particular is multipurpose... - I had to look up some how-to videos :)



Oh, and soon to come . . .  Wannabe Puppet Workshops at the OPL
(November 10 & 12, 2011 call 801-229-7161 for more information)

Busy
I've noticed that when life gets the busiest, my ever present planner does not reflect my life accurately - and the same goes for my blogs!

The busier I am, the less I blog (which only makes sense) but my planner entries also dry up.

Looking back I see these huge blank spots, days and weeks of what looks like vacation - no entries, no appointments, no notes. I haven't fiugred out if this is a bad thing, yet.

You would think that when I am swamped that I could benefit from some organization, some lists of things the need to get done. Or, is it that I am running from one thing to the next so fast that the time it takes to sit and think and write it all down is a luxury I cannot afford. Either that or it's too scary a prospect to actually look at it all. I just might have to give up if I were to see it all in print!

All that to the side, have to update here because  . .  well, just because.

Writing Conference

The Writing and Illustrating or Young Readers Conference was AWESOME! If you are a writer, are getting started or just want to make those all important connections that are vital to getting published, you should not miss this one-of-a-kind event. There is not another conference I know where you get to spend 4 hours every day for a week with only 12 other students and a highly qualified published teacher/published author. Martine Leavitt is amazing! Seriously read Keturah and Lord Death, you will see why I am in awe.


Fabric Arts Boutique

Closely following the conference (as in that Saturday) the Orem Library held it's first annual Fabric Arts Boutique. This was a starter year, and things did not happen like I dreamed, but if you didn't score some incredible fabric and textile deals you really missed out. I don't think we can pull those kinds of deals off again. My pocketbook is not happy, but my little crafter soul is.

Plus, we raised funds for the Center for Story along with educating the public with exactly why we need to build onto the library.

Rock Canyon Literary

Next, The Rock Canyon Literary Agency L.L.C. is officially 'outed'. We've opened up submissions, although it's still fairly restrictive--we have high expectations from our clients--we will accept proposals for representation,we've got Facebooking and Twittering started (albeit, not a lot of chatter going on yet) and...of all things (I know, huge run-on sentence going on here) we are brainstorming having an editors conference next February.

After all, it's the editors that authors want to connect with right? It's great authors that editors want to find too. What if we were able to bring the best of the best together each winter in conjunction with what happens at the Timpanogos Midwinter event? What would you (as a professional storyteller, prospective children's author) want from a conference--to get published, right? Let's see what we can make happen shall we? Keep watching!

Writing Librarian

Last - I've been madly writing and planning and working, I even posted in The Writing Librarian. Not a lot, but some updates and a little back story/side story from the novel.

Oh, can't forget the 'regular' stuff!

ie: The FOURTH of JULY!!

It was some fishing and relaxing at the cabin . . .

 Uh oh, Lex has one . . .

Did I ever mention I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to touching the fish?


Not going over there again! No thanks. I'll stay on  this side and just watch from now on.

Caught a few of this little imp - must have been  read too many frog princess stories or something, she was KISSING the worms!

Utah has new fireworks laws - kids in a candy shop, not that I got any of THOSE pictures. Justin did tho'...I'll post when he uploads :)

Ta for now!