I was going to try and get out of this post today, I even had the whine started, and then I realized by the time I finished bitching about how crappy I feel, I could have had it all done!
So I just did it…
This is what I came up with…
Now let me just start by saying that when I started this project it was 9:00 pm on a Saturday night, shut up, I have no life… and it was supposed to be easy. Well the tutorial that I read made it look easy, this one, well probably not so much.
My helpful hints:
Don’t pick a book called “Impossible” to cut apart, not only do you feel guilty for chopping up a book, even when the author has more money than God and couldn’t give a shit what you do to her book once she gets the money, it will make it harder to do if you already have doubts you can even DO this if you keep seeing the word impossible flash before your eyes, especially when the first try failed miserably and you are on the second chopped up book…
Use a sharp cutter.
Be careful using the sharp cutter when you have a headcold and aren’t really in your body, I am lucky to have any innards left.
Don’t cut towards your stomach with really sharp cutter unless you are very sure of your own motions…
Take your time, it doesn’t matter that this will take you three hours instead of the 20 minutes you planned on, you don’t have to work til 11 am tomorrow, what is wrong with going to bed at 2 am when you have a head cold from hell…right?
Stop blogging in between cutting, it won’t make it work better…
Wear safety goggles, flying paper can go right in your eye and blind you…
Running out of glue stick just before you are finished is kind of stupid…be prepared…
A chopstick pushing the gluestick through to the end works in a pinch.
Paper pumpkins are just like people, some turn out cooler than others…
If you craft this late at night, you should probably drink first, I am thinking then, at least, even if they don’t turn out that great, you won’t notice til morning, and by then it will be too late…
Put them up high on a shelf like I did, they look way cool from far away…
Ok then, here are the directions, such as they are…
First off you will need:
- 1 paperback novel that isn’t called Impossible
- 1 sharp Exacto knife
- 1 piece of cardboard for pattern
- Vodka, though you should save it til after you are done, you will be playing with a sharp knife remember? Craft responsibly.
- a teabag
- a glue gun…and glue sticks
- a wee branch, or something equally as cool for the stalk of the pumpkin
- raffia, a ribbon or bow
1. Plug in your glue gun…
2. Take the cover off of your book.
3. Cut your cardboard into the shape of your pumpkin. Using the sharp exacto knife, cut the first layers of paper, you shouldn’t need the template after initial cutting. Go slowly, you like your fingers right?
4. Once you have cut through all the layers and have your shape in place, get your wee branch ready and put a good thick bead of glue down the spine of the book, quickly place your branch in the center of the spine, hold the book spine together, making the book go the opposite way it would naturally, until the glue is dry.
5. If needed once it is dry you can glue the pages together as well.
6. Fluff the pages to the way you want them, this went well with my second book, did not go well with the first one. The other thing to take into consideration is to try joining the book before you wreck it in a pretend pumpkin, if it doesn’t go around naturally it might be a good idea to try a different book. My first book was really well read, and had some parts flattened, which made it not go well after I tried to make it go into a nice fanned shape.
7. Get the tea bag wet with warm water, and stain the outside of the book to make it look aged, I did it with the first book, not with the second one…I was tired and the mess was too big and I couldn’t even FIND the damn tea bag I had used…
8. Tie your ribbon or raffia around the wee stick to decorate it up, use your imagination you can use whatever you like to make it fabulous!
Here are my pumpkins, the one on the left, is the first try…less than stellar…the second one is kind of cute. I am going to try it again with a smaller book next time, also making sure the book has lots of pages and is fairly dense will give you a better end result!
Here is the original link to the site I found the project on, isn’t hers pretty??? Go check it out Craftberry Bush…
Happy Crafting!!!!