Playing with Old Children's Books

I think the illustrations in children's books are beautiful, colorful, creative and some of the most fun to use in collage and decoupage. I often passed up old children's books at thrift stores, yard and church sales because I no longer had little ones to read to anymore...and then one day it hit me how fun it would be to bring these pictures back out into the world.

And to be clear, only books that are damaged, a step away from being thrown away, or possibly already in the garbage bin are used in my craft room. I don't use a book that is still being used and loved as such. But when they have finished their useful life as a book, its time to re-purpose.

Journals

I love making journals! And all you need is a $1 composition book from the dollar store, a pair of scissors and some Mod Podge (the scissors and Mod Podge are the basic tools for all the crafts here).

Turn this...

Into that...

Decoupage

The church and yard sales, as well as thrift stores, are the best places to find cheap craft supplies (more about treasure hunting for your craft room later). I found this plain cardboard "H" at a yard sale for a quarter. When I spotted it, I wasn't sure at that moment what I'd do with it, but hey, my name starts with H, as does a very cute little girl I know. 

So for .25 cents, I grabbed it and put it on a shelf in my craft room.

Then I remembered my stash of children's book illustrations and rubbed my hands together and laughed maniacly like a mad scientist (I'd like to say I was kidding about that last part, but I'm pretty sure I did).

I bought a bag of falling apart hymnal books at a church sale for $1 (when I said this exact sentence to my husband upon returning from said church sale, I received a very big eye-roll and an "Of course you did.") and used some of the pages to put a base down on the H.

Then I cut out around several pictures on different pages in my stash. 

If you can't tell, I did decide to make this for the cute little girl in my life who's name starts with H.

These illustrations came from books with covers so damaged they were a step away from the garbage. So nice to see them looking cute on a shelf instead!

I also found this blank wood picture frame at a yard sale. Knew I'd find something to do to it.

Some decoupaged illustrations and wha-la, now a fun frame for a child's photo. 

I love adding buttons too!

Magnets

Making magnets is also a fun quick craft. I buy a bag of the clear glass stones (blobs?) at the dollar store and with some glue, scissors, Mod Podge and magnets you can make some fun art for your fridge.

Using the old illustrations makes it even more fun to hang up the kid's drawings on the fridge!

I sometimes add text too.

Cut out the little picture the size of your glass, use Clear Gel (or other clear adhesives for glass work) to stick the picture onto the glass. After it dries, you can glue to magnet on the back. 

I often use an old playing card cut out for a backing and glue that on as well, so the magnet isn't stuck right onto the picture and the glue doesn't bleed through.

A quick tip: If you buy the magnets with the self-adhesive on the back, go ahead and use some Krazy glue anyway. These are heavy and the magnets will fall off the back if not secured with the extra glue.

 Happy crafting!