Craft With Me: {Old} Book Pumpkins

So something a little different on the ol' blog.  Aside from my deep thoughts and trying to make sense of the world we live in...I love to craft.  I particularly love to create something new from something we have since discarded or have no use for anymore.  

Enter that pile of paperback books that you swore that you would read again...

If you are not an effective hoarder or just can't bear to part with any of your treasured books (hey I've got shelves full that I dust from time to time)...you can get them pretty cheap at a thrift store (found some for .25 last time I went treasure hunting).

What you will need:

Paperback books 
1 inch wide paintbrush (or close to it)
Craft paint (I used Martha Stewart Craft Paint in Mace)
Sharpie 
Scissors
Bowl + a little water
Hot glue
Paperclips
Cinnamon sticks (twigs work fine too)
Twine (ribbon, yarn...)

Directions:

1.  Using a Sharpie, draw on the front cover of your book a half pumpkin shape...kind of like those paper hearts we used to make when we were kids, just not as pointy on the bottom if that makes sense.

2.  Using scissors (or an exacto knife), cut out your half pumpkin shape.  Continue to trace the pumpkin shape onto the book pages and keep on cutting!  Cut your pages in sections to save you some time.

3.  After the book is completely cut out, place your cinnamon

sticks/twigs on the spine, allowing some to show at the top of your book, then hot glue them in place.

4.  Fasten covers together.  I chose to glue my covers together, but if you want to store them from year to year, it will be easier to just attach with paperclips at the bottom of the pumpkin.

5.  Squirt some paint into your bowl and add a little water to thin it out.  Mix with your paintbrush and apply to the edges of the pages.  ***paint will spatter and accent anything nearby with little orange polka dots :)  And note my little helper there...while the scissors and hot glue were out of the question...painting she could handle. 

6.  After the pages dry, use extra paperclips and clip any pages together that may not have fanned out.  Again, for aesthetics sake, use paperclips towards the bottom of the pumpkin.

7.  Tie twine/ribbon/yarn around your cinnamon stick stem.

8.  These can stand alone or be placed in bunches...either way, they are sure to add instant fall inspired cuteness to any space.

***If you don't want to see the brush strokes on all the page and perhaps eliminate some of the paint splatter, skip steps 3 & 4 and move right to painting the book page edges.  Once your pages are dry or close to it, go back and do steps 3 & 4, and then finish up with steps 6-8.

Hope that you have fun with this one!  It's super easy and pretty hard to mess up...which is my favorite kind of crafting.