3" x 3" Spiral Memory Books AND Altered Books/Journals About This Page:

[Jennifer2003]

Me: Hi, I'm Jennifer and I bite off more than I can chew.

You: Hi, Jennifer!

Ok, so I'm on this quest to become Super Scrapping Girl, and I've come up with two other roads to travel down: 3" x 3" books and Altered Books or Journals.

Does anyone make the 3x3's? They're so cute and little, I can see them doctored up real cute and shoved in proud moms and grandmas purses and diaper bags, to take out at a moment's notice when that old flame or ex best friend crosses their path. Aside from itsy bitsy brag books, what other things can they be used for?

Anyone alter books or journals? I've seen altered books lately, where they'll take a real book and fill it up with collages and paint and neat stuff. They are works of art. Then, on Ebay, I'll see people take a journal or make a journal (paper piecing) and doctor those all up to look real cute.

I'm interested in starting one of these, but I don't want to NOT finish it because that's how my paper bag album attempts have ended up. And I really LIKE paper bag books, too. Such a cool idea!

Anyone who can share some info with me? Any pictures of your completed work you can post in this thread?

Thanks!
Jennifer

[graygables]

I actually have chosen a book and have a (get this!) MICKEY lock to put on my finished altered product, but I just haven't had the time to get started and haven't figured out how to attach the latch anyway I just have so much else going on right now, I haven't had the time to work on it. I think the little bitty albums would make great brag books, too, but again, no time for play!

[rescuesk]

Hi Jennifer!

Welcome to SA (Scrapbookers Anonymous)!

OK, I'll bite...what is an altered book?

I just did my very first paper bag book, and it came out pretty good! I made a "memory book" for DH, and I am going to make one for my friend as a "brag book" for her granddaughter (just add pictures! ) I also was thinking they would make great quick "vacation" books, like if you had a dozen pictures or so that you wanted to share with a friend but didn't just want to hand the pictures over. Also, they would be cute for a collection of year by year school pictures.

I think the 3 x 3 albums would be great for this too! Now I will have to go check them out!

More projects.... ...

[Jennifer2003]

Sue, an altered book is a regular book that's been doctored up into a work of art. You can rip pages out (to add more room for the doctored pages) and then add papers, fibers, paint, etc. I've seen examples of ones that you can cut shadow boxes into.

Here's a link to one site I found for altered books:http://www.alteredbookartists.com/

And Dawn, your Mickey lock sounds so cool! Where did you find it??

Jennifer

[GATechGal]

I've done and altered book (OK I took a class) that took a child's board book, sanded it down, painted it with Gesso (that's the white primer stuff that you use to prime canvas for paintings) and then used acrylic paint on some pages and background papers on others. It was for Easter and it came out SUPER CUTE. I'm working on doing 2 others - one as a memory book for our dog Ginger that passed away in the Spring, and one for Chet's spring baseball. The think I like about the board books is that they are REALLY sturdy. You could even Modge Podge over the pages to make them water resistent. And you can use any kind of board book. One gal in my class was taking a board book that was shaped like a car and actually had wheels that turned on the bottom to make into an album for her son that had just gotten his licence. Another had a board book shaped like a purse that she was doing for her daughter's prom pictures.

[joeandjenn]

I have bought board books at the dollar store and altered them into memory books. I have also bought the Composition Books by Mead and altered them into journals. It's really fun to do when you have the time! Rusty Pickle has a great selection of options for altered books and the 3x3 books. I highly recommend them.

[katspjs]

I've altered a few notebooks. I've done the little ones for a swap (my theme was pets and around the home). I made one book for my sister, but it was a bound notebook. I just finished making a spiral notebook for a Secret Sister Swap on my scrapbook board - she had requested a couple of pockets. I've seen people do sketchbooks for scrapping, address books. A couple of recent magazines have shown spiral notebooks altered into agendas. They are really fun to make.