Boxes, books, and papers oh my!

I love boxes!

When I was up in Dallas

I picked up a few cigar boxes

for one dollar a piece.

Then when I got them home

 I was looking through some old CPS mags

that my friend Laura gave me

and happened across a cigar box tutorial

by Cheryl Prater.

I love how it turned out.

You really can't see the dimension in the photo.

 It's mainly a cab card and collage.

 The card and each little tile cut out

is raised up, the face being the highest.

I have 2 more cigar boxes to experiment with.

Oh, the possibilities!

-ALTERED BOOKS and PAPERS-

Old books are something that I love to look at.

These old books were just crumbling

from dry rot,

when I found them at the thrift store,

except the covers were still in good shape.

I paid 29 cents each for them.

I made a cut out

 and put my watercolor in behind the cover,

added the vintage jewelry,

then glued the ends of the pages together.

I will probably finish this off and

 use this book as a book end.

This one I did the same way

 except I made 2 separate cutouts.

You could put anything in the window.

The book you see here

is on old hymnal I found at the thrift store.

I thought it needed a more angelic watercolor

in the window.

I added some fabric paper around the window and

a paper flower with a vintage button.

Then I added some black velvet ribbon,

 sari ribbon, old jewelry crosses,

 and some beads.

She also has a cross with black gold on her neck.

These books could not be read anymore

as they were too dry rotted,

but this way they can still be enjoyed

for their beauty.

How can you repurpose and alter an old book?

Let me know by leaving a comment.

I like to practice using my watercolor pencils

 on any kind of paper I can find,

including paper from books.

I buy the cheapest books I find at the thrift store too,

 sometimes the ones no one else wants.

I love old hymnals, old dictionarys, old atlas's,

old bibles, old botany books, old gardening books,

old science books, old literature books etc.

 Most are for less than 50 cents.

Some I keep on my shelves as is and just love them

and others I use

for many other things.

It's just one more way I like to.....

Savor the Day!

Yvonne