Book Making

-
My first go at scrapbooking in the 80's was in black paged photo albums and then I moved on to acid-free colored papers. These early scrapbooks are some of the ugliest things you have ever seen.  In the mid 1990's I had a wonderful neighbor named Stacey Julian.  Those of you into scrapbooking might recognize the name.  She was a stamper when I met her and was just starting into scrapbooking.  She and my other friend, Terina, self-published a book called Core Composition and they used some photos of my kids within their pages.
I learned a lot about design from Stacey and Terina.  I also learned that the self-publishing world was hard and expensive!  In the last 20 years that world has completely changed.  It can still be very expensive to come up with the initial investment to publish 10,000 books and then there is the issue of finding a place to store those 10,000 books while you find places and people who want to buy them, but thanks to a company called Blurb you really don't need to!  If you have a book idea, just go WRITE IT and then publish it with Blurb.  Your audience will be able to purchase your book directly from Blurb.  The books are published as needed.  No more books sitting in the garage hoping they don't get damaged before they sell, if they sell at all!  AND you still make a profit on the books you sell when they sell!  It's a fabulous idea!

Now if you are like me and don't have a book idea in mind you are probably wondering why you are still reading and I'll tell you why: deep down we all want books about ourself and our family.  Scrapbooking supplies can take up a lot of space and sometimes, honestly, I'm just not very good with my composition, despite years of learning.  Now I don't have to worry about that problem.
When I made my first book I simply stuck the photos into pre-designed pages and then ordered the book.  The quality was fabulous!  There my photos were in a professional quality book.  It was amazing!  Now that I have a few more skills under my belt I can use tools on Blurb and design things exactly the way I want them!  I love it!  I've given my kids, husband, sister and mother-in-law several books of photos of themselves.  They love it!  It is really the perfect gift.  I've even made a cookbook of family recipes.

And now the best part of the holidays is the sales that Blurb has  - Today through Monday (the 3rd) create a book and 25% off with Blurb when you use the promo code HOLIDAYTHANKS.  To receive your Blurb book by Christmas, using ground shipping, the deadline is 12/10.  
Time to get to work!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gelli Plate Tutorial with Leaves

-
Image
Here's the Gelli Plate Tutorial you asked for! My Gelli plate has been well used and well loved. 1. Place Gelli Plate on a flat, covered working surface, and place small dots of paint onto the plate.  My demo photos are with me using acrylics and paper but it works exactly the same with fabric paint and fabric.  I like using Jacquard Textile paint when I make fabric prints. 2. Use a brayer to spread the paint evenly across the plate. 3.  I used the leaves as a resist for the first print. 4. Place the paper/fabric on top of the printing plate and smooth it out nicely to get an even print. 5.  Carefully lift up the paper/fabric. Found a photo from when I printed the fabric - see same process. This is a first print. 5.  I know that MONOprinting means ONE print but seriously, when you remove the leaves from the plate there are these beautifully textured leaves left on the plate just dying to be printed.  I couldn't ignore t...
Read more

Fabric Printing at Home Blog Tour

-
Image
About two months ago I wrote a review about the book Fabric Printing at Home written by my friend, Julie B. Booth . Today I'm going to show you one of the things I learned from her book and then give you an opportunity to win a copy of the book for yourself. I used a hot glue gun to create a design onto a toilet paper roll.  I was impatient and didn't seal the toilet paper roll with white glue or a gel medium before creating my design.   I inserted a short roller handle that one can find at the local hardware store into the toilet paper roll. . .   . . . and used my 3x5" Gelli Plate as a paint palette.  I rolled the paint across a sample piece of fabric. . . . . .first going long ways. . .  . . .and then again short ways. I really like the texture this provides whether I go once or twice across the fabric and I'm gladly adding it to my art "toolbox."  Have you tried something like this before?  What ha...
Read more

Quilt National

-
Image
My husband and I took a red-eye flight to Columbus, Ohio, and then drove the one hour to Athens, Ohio, to attend the opening of the Quilt National quilt show where my piece, Wild Flowers was being shown. Made a stop at Tim Horton's, a Canadian chain for some delicious breakfast sandwiches and donut holes. We went to the Kennedy Art Museum, on the Ohio University campus. This is the side of the building. Photo of the front of the building from the cleveland.com website. The building was designed in the 1860s by Cleveland architect Levi Scofield, and was originally part of the Athen's Lunatic Asylum. It opened in 1996 as the Kennedy Museum of Art. There were some lovely prints, paintings and exhibits. It didn't take long to tour, which was good for my knees. I was glad to be able to see this Elizabeth Catlett print. I admire her work. I've seen some of her her other prints in person, and was anxious to also see this one. Friday evening, the Quilt National show opened, and...
Read more