October 16, 2008

Fun Halloween Books

Don't you just love Witches?

I love a "Good Bargain"! In fact, I think it might be my middle name! While shopping at Michael's Craft Store I spotted some real bargains, cute little note books marked down to .50 cents....

As a child of the Depression, I learned at a very young age to be thrifty. It has never left me! One day I will share my memories of that time, but today I'm crafting some fun Halloween Books for my grandchildren (and myself!)


With tons of scrapbook papers, stickers, die cuts, alphabets, google eyes, distress inks, Prismacolor pencils and my good old Golden Gel Medium, I started out to create some fun books for the kiddies to write, draw and sticker. I plan to use mine as a journal and notebook for the upcoming holiday (I also made one for my daughter, Deb...we both use notebooks every day to keep track of to-do lists and important events).

It was fun to cut up scrapbook papers with unusual Halloween Monsters and Ghosts and Witches (most of the papers that I used were from (Rusty Pickle, Pinecone Press, and DaisyD's). Stickers were from several companies available at local scrapbook stores and Michael's.

After cutting out the "spooky characters" that I wanted to use, I got out my Gel Medium (using it as glue for the papers and for a finish top coat to protect the artwork on the covers).

Once again, I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to tone down the color of the books and add some dimension and interesting contrast. I added lots of google eyes in odd sizes to the characters making them even more whimsical. The finishing touches were ballpoint pens with skeletons and ghosts which I purchased at Walgreen's
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The 4 books I created

I opened the books and layed them out flat so I could photograph the front and back covers.
Nana likes Witches and Black Cats!

Nick loves Skeletons and Frankenstein!

Girlie loves Pumpkins and Kitties!

Mommy likes Frankenstein's Bride and Bats!

A closeup of the Bride!

I'm off to pack my suitcase with all the important things...Halloween Books, Creepy Candy Critters, Bats, Spiders, Halloween Recipe Book, Wax Lips and Fangs....It just wouldn't be Halloween without them! TRICK OR TREAT!