Sketching with Dr. Seuss : Hardback Sketchbook Tutorial

As a birthday tribute to Dr. Seuss (and because we had some Dr. Seuss book covers lying around from a different project) we decided to make some Dr. Seuss Sketch books. I have created a quick tutorial for you to make these at home.

You will need:
An old hardback book (check out your local thrift store)
Paper
3 hole punch or hand held punch
utility knife and ruler or scissors
Paper cutter (or one of the cutting tools above)
Drill and a 7/32 bit
Scrap block of wood or thick stack of scrap paper
Yarn/twine or metal book rings (they come in various sizes)
Large eyed needle (optional)

STEP 1: First you will need to remove the pages from the hardback book you have selected and cut out the spine. If the original pages are sewn into the book you can snip the twine found at the center page using a sharp pair of scissors or your utility blade and remove all the pages at once. If the pages are glued into the spine, you can cut them out right along with the spine of the book using your ruler and utility knife. Set book pages aside for another project.

STEP 2: Gather the paper you have chosen for the guts of the book and cut down to about 1/4 inch shorter, (vertically and horizontally) than the book over itself. This will give you a nice border when your stack of paper is centered on the inside of the covers. (Our book covers were about 6 ½” x 9 ¼” so we cut our paper to 6 ¼” x 9”). Next you will want to punch holes in the long edge using a 3 hole paper puncher or a hand held punch.

STEP 3: Line up and center one of the papers you just punched near the edge of the book cover. With a pen mark where the book shows though the holes this will be your drill markings. Place the cover on top of a piece of scrap wood and drill through the marking you just made. Repeat this step for all holes and the back cover. If you don’t want to bother with a drill or if you want to get really fancy, you could take the covers to a copy center like Fed Ex Office and they can drill these for you. If you choose this alternative, have them drill your pre-cut paper while you’re at it.

STEP 4: Now for binding. The easy way of doing this is to use metal book rings which come in many sizes. They pull open and squeeze close which makes it easy to remove and add pages to your sketch book. (The image above is sketchbook a friend of mine made for me and it depicts this method).

If you don’t want to have to buy these rings you can always use twine or yarn to tie your book together which is what we did for ours. We did this by inserted the yarn through both ends of facing holes. Then we crossed our yarn strands and stuck it through the hole opposite of the hole it was coming through (one end at a time). We stuck the yarn back through its original hole, double knotted it and snipped off the excess. If you choose to go this route when binding your own books, just make sure the book is able to lay flat with the spine lightly touching when you are knotting the thread, otherwise you could bind too tightly causing the paper to get stuck or tear as you turn the pages.

STEP 5: Get sketching!

I hope you have fun trying this simple project at home. Also, if the original paper you have removed from your book is still in good shape you may want to frame some of your favorite illustrations for instant home decor. Otherwise you could use the scraps to make envelopes, gift tags, postcards…the list goes on and on. What ideas are you brewing up?

Sweet Talk: DIY Conversation Hearts

After purchasing our customary bag of conversations hearts for this month of love, I began to wonder how much research it would take to come up with a homemade version of these little candy treasures.

I decided to ask internet to help me investigate the possibilities of this task. As usual, Internet came throughand provided me with the perfect recipe and photo tutorial for making these famous treats from scratch.

I helped Hendrix and a little girlfriend of his make these over the Valentines weekend but I think it would make a fun anytime kitchen activity.

To MAKE THESE at HOME you will:

Mix ½ cup of water and 2 tsp of light corn syrup to one packet or 2 tsp of unflavored gelatin until the gelatin is well-distributed. Microwave the mix for 30 seconds to dissolve the gelatin, stir well.

Add gelatin mixture to a mixing bowl along with 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix ingredients using the paddle attachment (you can also use a handheld mixer). When the sugar is well blended you will add another cup of powdered sugar and mix until well-blended again. Continue this process until you have added 2 lb of powdered sugar. The dough should be stiff at this point.

Next you will knead the sticky dough on a generously-dusted powdered sugar surface. Roll the dough over itself adding powdered sugar as needed to decrease the stickiness.

When the dough is the right consistency, you can add color and flavoring. We separated our dough into 5 balls for 5 different colors and flavors. We added the color first (lightest color first) and then we added the flavoring extracts using what we had on hand; vanilla, coconut, bubblegum, banana, and cinnamon. The flavoring possibilities are endless.

Finally you will roll your dough and cut using small heat shaped cutters. You can make as thick as you like but you may want to roll out a thinner version of the store bought candy if your cutters are large.

You can place cut out candies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Leave treats uncovered on cookie sheet overnight to dry—NO baking necessary!

Once dried you can add you own special message to each heart using food writing makers which you can find in the baking aisle at most craft stores.
If you didn't notice, the ingredients and supply list for this project are the items are in color above. For further details see recipie HERE.

There you have it, your very own conversation hearts!

(top image credit: Brittany...my sister!)

Valentine Love Mitts

Hey there friends! I just shared a valentine tutorial with the readers over at FaveCrafts.com. You can read all about how to make your own I-Love-You-This-Much Love Mitts right HERE.

Oh yeah, and I am also sharing my current 5 favorite blogs on the Fave Crafts blog right HERE.