It's Almost Halloween!...and I'm carving "BOO"ks!

It almost seems strange that I would be carving books when my sister and her girls finished carving their pumpkins today. But then again, 'tis the life of a crafter...

In November, I'm presenting a "Friends of the Library" program on repurposing and crafting with books (book pages, book spines, maps etc.). I'm not shy about my love of cutting up pages and tearing about books, sorting scraps into piles and modge-podging them into new creations. (Someday I'll expound on my love of Dover paper dolls and the benefits of scissors-therapy.) Although typically, I've left this type of paper-crafting for my own, personal look-books and knicknacks. The "Friends" program is shaping up to be a bit more than I initially planned.
Which leads me to where I am now-- experimenting with some of the left-overs that I salvaged from the library book sale.

It took two tries at this "Golden Delicious" fall apple. Don't let the pictures fool you. A really good, new, sharp Exact is required and a bit of muscle doesn't hurt. I'm always thankful that my kitchen has one of those old, build-in cutting boards.

First, I found an image of an apple that I could easily half for my pattern. I split my paperback book into two sections. (About 150 pages each).

With my pattern on cardboard, I secured it to one half of the book with a thick binder clip.

Once the entire shape was cut away, I fanned the pages out, gluing and securing the ends together. I chose to used a yellow simply because I didn't have a red. (Next time!)

Finally, I glued in a piece of grape-vine and tied ribbon and netting for flare!

My primary resource for my most of my paper projects is the book I am using as reference during my "Friends of the Library" presentation. Playing with Books by Jason Thompson.