Upcycling those old books, a quick project.

Vintage illustrations. Little bit of upcycling.

I cut up a lot of books. Usually they’re ones that have been scribbled on, which puts a stop to any guilty feels. This is most of what I’ve got shoved in my crafty drawer, some may have fallen down the back.

I’ve got a lot of birthdays in October and my collection comes in handy when I haven’t got the time to draw a card design. You upcycle those old pictures into something new like a card!That’s another thing to feel bad about; If you make a birthday card just by sticking a picture onto some card, is that cheating? Well, it’s what I do when time is an issue.

My favourite pens and pencils and things!

Here is my favourite box of pens and things. I have a scalpel in there wrapped in a tatty masking taped protective thing (Husband made it a long time ago and I have stolen it along with the blade), it’s the dirty thing on the left, next to the brown pencil. We’ve tried to find those Stylo pens but they don’t make them any more. This one is used sparingly, it is lovely to draw with.

making birthday cards

Anyway, I use that scalpel to slice up my old pictures and then just bung them on some card with a bit of glue. Easy!

leftover scraps

Leftovers.

handmade birthday cards using vintage pictures.

See? Easy! A bit more slicing and done.

handmade birthday cards using vintage images.

Lazy, or what? I regret not having made the effort to do some drawing but I have been so busy that I haven’t had time to think of ideas. I really don’t like drawing something if the idea doesn’t please me greatly. Which reminds me, it is another birthday tomorrow…. Husband’s… I have lost my thinking cap. (The fabric in the background is for a project I did at the beginning of the week. I’ve taken pictures, so it will deffo become a blog post soon.)

Gotta sign your work.

Not forgetting to sign “your work” after. Sorry to everyone who gets these. I do try to match the picture to the person but it isn’t always possible.

8 thoughts on “Upcycling those old books, a quick project.

  1. Do you remember what book these were from? I like the way they use the colour. I’m planning on recycling a heap of old books; I’m a sucker for a vintage image and just ended up with too many books from the op shop. Found a good one the other day – 366 Bedtime Stories. It has some very quirky stories and poems for each day of the year. Will make gift tags out of the smaller ones and maybe some cards out of the bigger one. Here’s one I did. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jodeswa75/25779844201/in/dateposted-public/ Actually wish I’d made it into a card; by corner punching the top left I stuffed up the text and I don’t really like the hole placement.

    1. Hi! It was an Enid Blyton book. I can’t remember which one, but it was a collection of stories, poems and activities. Stuff like that. Hadn’t thought of gift tags. I really want to frame some vintage images but I’ve messed that up so many times!

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