Vintage book projects no.1 - fall pumpkins

I have had a love affair with old books for quite a long time. And I am always looking for unique ways to re purpose them. I was inspired by a picture of a "carved" book earlier this year and knew that I had to try to make a pumpkin book for fall decorating in our new home.

If you'd like to try to make one of these yourself, this is what I did ...

1. You will need an old book and an exacto knife. I used a dictionary for this project because I liked the yellowed pages.

2. Cut the book pages from the cover being careful to leave the pages glued together.

3. Draw out the shape the you want your final pumpkin to look like. You have to think about how your pumpkin will sit so you will want to leave a small area at the bottom of the pumpkin flat.

4. Using the shape that you drew as a template, start cutting the pages with the exacto knife. You will want to cut in sections. Take your time. When you get to the end of the book and have cut all of the pages, you may find that some of the pages were not all cut to the same size. That's okay, don't panic ... you can always go back and trim some of the pages.

But just like when you were 5 and tried to cut your own bangs ... try not to be a perfectionist and over cut!

5. To make the pumpkin into a 3D shape, I glued the first and last pages together using gel medium and 6. used paper clips to hold the book pages together until the gel medium was dry.

You can decorate the top of your pumpkin with a branch. I also added leaf shapes that I cut out of green felt and some pieces of twine.

These pumpkins are great for fall decorating and can easily be added into your Halloween decorating as well.

If you are looking for more Halloween projects pop over to Creative Bag's blog. I have been posting Halloween packaging, food decorating and party ideas over there all month. There are some free downloads for Halloween packaging here and here. 

I know that a number of people have been inquiring about my workshops. I don't have any mixed media or art classes planned at this point. The only workshops that I have planned for the rest of this year are free holiday packaging and party workshops at Creative Bag. The workshops are usually on Thursday nights in Toronto (close to Yorkdale Shopping Centre). If you are interested in attending just send me an email and I will add you to my email list and notify you when dates are available.