Book and Paper Arts Archives - Page 5 of 15

Free Scans: Vintage Print, Text, Handwritten

August 15, 2021 / by Kelly

Painting, drawing, and collage-making on vintage text and handwritten pages is one of my favourite techniques in creating altered books and art journal pages. While I sell a lot of antique paper for book and journal arts and am lucky enough to have a big stash for my own work, I fully realise that it is not in everyone’s budget right now and that we are all at different stages and levels of our creating experience, so I also want to offer these free, high-res scans that you can print or use in digital collage. If you’re not sure how to use these with visual pieces, check out my Youtube video below.

Just click on any image to get a larger view. To grab it, right click and copy, then copy into an editing program such as Paint. (I actually use Word which is not meant for visual but what the heck, I know how to make it do what I want.) You may want to resize an image and make it smaller or larger, depending on what you want to make.

Happy making! Here’s the video with [read more]

Follow

Easy Goal Setting to Change Your Life (and Get to Your Wildest Dream)

August 15, 2021 / by Kelly

Maybe it’s because I love maps, and make no mistake, making goals and resolutions is about making a map of your life: taking stock of where you are and setting a course for where you mean to go, and how to go about getting there. This turns your life into a meaningful journey rather than aimless roaming.

It helps you see that every goal pursued and met – or not – is a building blocks to be experienced, lived, embraced. The best advice I’ve ever found about about knowing what you want and then getting it was from Barbara Sher. Her books Wishcraft – How to Get What You Really Want and I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was really did change how I thought. I read them at a time that I felt trapped by life and was angry, desperate, and scared. She showed me how to get out by imagining my direction and then taking real-life teeny, tiny steps towards it. It’s about using those goals, those building blocks as pulling yourself along hand over hand, until you can walk then run then fly. Or maybe you stumble and that [read more]

Follow

SOLD: Violet Crystal Vintage Rosary from Italy

August 8, 2021 / by Kelly

This rosary has crystal beads in a delicate, light violet shade. They have silver bead caps and a silver, art nouveau linking bead. The crucifix has a teeny tiny angel on one arm and Mary on the other. On the back it reads “Italy”. Please note that this piece is not long enough to be worn as a necklace (unless it is converted with a clasp).

It measures 13.55″ (34.5cm) end to end and the crucifix measures 1.25″ (3.5cm). Cost is £55 with free worldwide shipping. To buy use the Buy It Now button below or contact me at [read more]

Follow

SOLD: Purple Rosary: Vintage French With Enamel Trim

August 8, 2021 / by Kelly

This is a vintage French rosary from the early 20th century. The beads are a deep purple stone and the crucifix and linking bead are trimmed with silver and purple enamel. The crucifix has the word “Lourdes” on the back, and the linking bead has a profile of Bernadette on one side and Bernadette at the grotto on the other. While this piece makes a unique devotional object, it can also be worn as a lovely piece of vintage French jewelry.

It measures 18″ (46cm) from end to end and the crucifix is 1.5″ (4cm). Cost is £65 with free worldwide shipping. To buy use the Buy It Now button below or contact me at [read more]

Follow

SOLD: Altered Book: Temperance Entertainer

June 26, 2021 / by Kelly

SOLD:

This altered book is made from a vintage book, then filled with paper ephemera, pockets, collage, and mixed media embellishments. A book like this takes several weeks to make: pages must be prepared, pockets formed, layouts created, gluing gluing gluing, drying drying drying. Each layout is a unique, collage piece, making this altered book basically a collection of one-of-a-kind collages. Here is a video flip through showing page by page detail with a description of the techniques I used inside.

Here are still photos of the pages. TO SEE A LARGER VERSION OF ANY photo, just click on that image.

To buy, the cost is £165 GBP + £19 worldwide shipping. (This is approximately $227 + $26 USD but please use this currency converter for an exact price.) You can use the Buy It Now button or email at kelly@bookandpaperarts.com for more information. I can also be reached on Instagram at @Book.And.Paper.Arts and you can send me a [read more]

Follow

SOLD: Altered Book: The Good Samaritan

June 11, 2021 / by Kelly

SOLD: My latest altered book is in a book of children’s Bible stories from 1915. It is a larger size than I usually get to work in and I really had fun with the larger format. Throughout I have used original 19th-century paper ephemera to create collage layouts before embellishing the pages with a variety of mark making. Here is the video flip through and below that are still photos. CLICK ON ANY PHOTO IN THE GALLERY TO SEE A LARGER VERSION.

This altered book is for sale. The cost is £145 (approximately $205 but please use currency converter for exact exchange rate). Worldwide shipping is £15. To buy use the Buy It Now button. You can also email me or contact me on Instagram via DM @bookandpaperarts.

(Click on any photo in the gallery to see a larger [read more]

Follow

Six Handmade Books With No Sewing: Online Course

June 9, 2021 / by Kelly

I am so excited to announce my new, online video course. It has 90 minutes of content that will teach you how to make six different books with simple, easy-to-find materials and no sewing! These books make pretty, lightweight journals. The variations are:

Single signature with ribbon binding;
Wraparound cover with ribbon binding;
Dos-a-dos cover;
Concertina sketchbook;
Mini concertina book with pockets; and
Faux ring binding.

To see an introduction to the course and a look at the finished books, check out this video.

This course is $30 USD. To buy, just click here and go to the online school. Please let me know if you have any questions. Happy [read more]

Follow

Saints, the Unknown, and Alter Egos

May 23, 2021 / by Kelly

A question I get a lot is: am I Catholic? Understandable. My altered books and art journal work rely heavily on saints, angels, madonnas, rosaries, sacred hearts, and so on. But no, I am not Catholic, not even religious. I turn to saints because they they are my alter egos. For some people it is mermaids, for others fairies, and for a whole lot of people it seems to be vampires. For me, it’s the saints, the madder the better, the outrageous ones lost to time and myth.

If I have no well-defined religion, I do very much believe in the Divine, and contemplation of It runs through my work and writing. Look, there are up to 400 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy and there are more than 100 billion galaxies out there beyond ours. And the greatest minds in science can only identify 4% of what makes all of that up. The other 96% is shrouded in mystery called dark matter and dark energy but nobody knows what the heck it is. As in, 96% of all measurable reality is the Unknown.

Try to think about this. I do, every day, all the time, so is [read more]

Follow

Vintage Ledgers: 19th Century Handwritten Books

May 21, 2021 / by Kelly

(NOTE: the first two of these ledgers have sold. Please scroll down to see the one still available.)

I recently acquired some charming, old, handwritten ledgers. As a rule, vintage ledgers are insanely heavy and almost impossible to ship. These, however, are nice, small sizes and relatively light. Scroll down to see all three.

(Please note, prices are given in GBP. Go here to get an exact conversion to your currency.

SOLD: First is a book with leather binding and brass clasp. It measures 6″ x 4″ (15.5cm x 10cm) and has 45 pages with handwritten accounts listings. Entries date from 1857 – 1871.

Cost is £55 plus £10 worldwide shipping. Buy It Now with button below or contact me here or DM on Instagram @book.and.paper.arts.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

SOLD: Ledge number 2 is quite literally a little, black book. It measures 6″ x 4″ (15.5cm x 10cm) and has 34 pages with handwritten accounts. Entries date from 1889 – 1893.

Cost is £45 and £10 worldwide shipping. Buy It Now with button below or contact me here or DM on Instagram @book.and.paper.arts.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Ledger number three measures 8″ x 6.5″ (20.5cm x 17cm) and has 50 pages of handwritten accounts of grocery and haberdashery [read more]

Follow

How to Make Free Art Supplies: Trash to Treasure

April 24, 2021 / by Kelly

Here is a recent video from my Youtube channel on ways to look at the stuff that we all have all around use and see if we can’t be resourceful and turn it into free, found art supplies. Whether you are on a budget, trying to reduce waste, or enjoy a challenge to your imagination, these ideas will jumpstart your practice with everyday stuff available for free to anyone. I go through these ideas pretty quickly so here is a list that you can refer to if needed (and the approximately time stamp so you can forward there if you want).

Introduction
Ways to use found cardboard and packaging: *Making a mini-book from box or mailer (2:48)
Tags and Bookmarks
Die cut paper embellishments (6:48)
Free, found stencils (8:24)
Tissue Paper (12:00)
Paper Wrapper Frame (10:05)
Mesh Onion Wrapper (9:11)
Brown Envelope Pocket With Window (11:15)
Bubble Wrap Mark Making (13:30)
Printmaking with Styrofoam “Plate” and Mark Making with Corrugated Cardboard and Blister Dispensers (15:35)

In the final segment I mention Birgit Koopsen’s Youtube channel for tons of inspiration and it is [read more]

Follow

Book and Paper Arts (page 5 of 15)

Free Scans: Vintage Print, Text, Handwritten

Easy Goal Setting to Change Your Life (and Get to Your Wildest Dream)

SOLD: Violet Crystal Vintage Rosary from Italy

SOLD: Purple Rosary: Vintage French With Enamel Trim

SOLD: Altered Book: Temperance Entertainer

SOLD: Altered Book: The Good Samaritan

Six Handmade Books With No Sewing: Online Course

Saints, the Unknown, and Alter Egos

Vintage Ledgers: 19th Century Handwritten Books

How to Make Free Art Supplies: Trash to Treasure

Search

Recent Posts