Creating Decorative Paper

Paint, print, layer, and scrape to produce vibrant, creative papers for scrapbooks, greeting cards, collages, gift wrap, book making, and decorating surfaces.

Explores projects and design options using papers and simple crafting methods.

Learn how to make flag books, star books, accordian books and more. Decorate them with stamping, collage, stitching and embellishments. This innovative step-by-step guide offers simple and challenging ideas and crafters will love the colourful projects and great designs. An innovative, practical guide containing all you need to know to create unique, decorated books.

Each project in this book combines bookbinding with a specific craft such as quilting, jewelry making, or polymer clay, and offer levels of expertise: basic, novice, and expert. Illustrated step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrate how to construct the cover pages, and a unique binding technique, easy enough for a beginner to master. Each project also features two other versions with the same binding geared to those with more or less experience. The novice version is for those who have no knowledge of the craft and want shortcuts, but love the look. For the quilter's book, for example, vintage quilt pieces become the covers so all that's needing in the binding. Or if you're interested in wool felting use an old sweater. This offers great opportunities for upcycling. The expert version is for those who have a great deal of knowledge and proficiency of a certain craft - the master art quilter, for example. For this version, an expert guest artist has created the cover and the author has created the binding. This offers yet another creative opportunity - the collaborative project. Since crafters often get involved with round-robins and other shared endeavors, this will show them yet another way to combine their skills. No other craft book offers the possibilities and challenges that Adventures in Bookbinding does. Readers will return to it again and again to find inspiration and ideas.

With the 45 elegant designs in this book and a pair of sharp scissors, you can cut up a snowstorm of beautiful paper snowflakes, perfect for Christmas tree ornaments and other holiday decorations. The airy, lacy designs can also be adapted as valentines, greeting cards, table centerpieces, and decorations of all kinds.

Meet your dream plate and fall in love with a faster, friendlier approach to printmaking. For artists and crafters who love the creative possibilities of monoprinting on gelatin but not the prep time, mess and inconvenience that comes with it, the Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate is a dream come true! It's durable, reusable, stored at room temperature, and ready to get creative whenever you are. Simply apply paint with a soft rubber brayer, make your marks and pull your print. It's that simple! Wipe the plate down with a spritz of water and a paper towel, and you're ready to go again. In this premier guide, artist Joan Bess--inventor of the concept for the Gelli plate--unleashes the fun through more than 60 step-by-step techniques. Create intriguing patterns using tools like sponges, textured rollers and homemade combs. Learn how to incorporate stencils and rubber stamps. Experiment with metallic paint, dimensional paint and gel medium. Become a texture-hunter, creating a wide world of effects using embossed papers, natural objects, rubber bands, lace, corrugated cardboard, metal tape, die cut letters...anything goes! Even beginners can enjoy immediate gratification--just grab a textured surface, smoosh it into your painted Gelli plate, and you'll have a stack of amazing prints in no time. For experienced printmakers, the inspirations in these pages will push you to experiment, adapt, combine and layer. It's easy, fun and totally addicting! Printmaking just got easier! • Expert tips from the creator of the Gelli plate • 60+ awesome step-by-step techniques • Ideas for incorporating stamps and stencils, using ghost prints, salvaging uninspired prints, and more • 26-page gallery shows the many wonderful ways artists are incorporating Gelli printing into their work