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Altered Board Book Basics & Beyond: For Creative Scrapbooks, Altered Books & Artful Journals
EVERYTHING you need for personalizing a blank board book and creating your own unique masterpiece! Jan's step-by-step instructions show you how!
- GenresArtNonfiction
48 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 10, 2018
A thin little book with some to-the-point technique and tips for creating altered books, a craft that seems to have fallen out of favor in the paper crafting community, but really shouldn't. There's a lot that can be done with old books to give them a new life as art journals or the basis to become one-of-a-kind new books.
I know some people worry that there's something sacreligious about taking apart a book, tearing out pages, or gessoing over words, but if you've ever been to a library book sale, the free shelf at your used book store, or one of those book remainder stores, you know there's no shortage of books that are dated in unhelpful ways (old dictionaries, travel guidebooks from ten years ago, fad diet books, etc.), were produced in numbers far more optimistic than the market could actually carry, or were never intended to be long-term residents on anyone's bookshelves (romance serials, book club editions, Reader's Digest condensed books, for example). Some of the best books to work with are often books for children, and if you ask your friends with kids, they'll probably be happy to pass along some of the banged up copies their kids have chewed on, scribbled in, or torn pages from. So don't let guilt keep you from painting, tearing, or otherwise defacing and refacing books.
I know some people worry that there's something sacreligious about taking apart a book, tearing out pages, or gessoing over words, but if you've ever been to a library book sale, the free shelf at your used book store, or one of those book remainder stores, you know there's no shortage of books that are dated in unhelpful ways (old dictionaries, travel guidebooks from ten years ago, fad diet books, etc.), were produced in numbers far more optimistic than the market could actually carry, or were never intended to be long-term residents on anyone's bookshelves (romance serials, book club editions, Reader's Digest condensed books, for example). Some of the best books to work with are often books for children, and if you ask your friends with kids, they'll probably be happy to pass along some of the banged up copies their kids have chewed on, scribbled in, or torn pages from. So don't let guilt keep you from painting, tearing, or otherwise defacing and refacing books.
August 23, 2025
Although this is an older book (2005), it had some fun ideas that I hadn't yet incorporated. Can't wait to get started on these ideas!
August 21, 2012
I like this book for the simple reason it has lots of great pictures and ideas that you can easily follow or change to suit what you are doing. A good reference to have on hand.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews