Book Page Ephemera

After every live sale, I have a major decision to make - what do I do with the leftover books? Some of them get resold at the next live sale or in my Etsy shop but there are others that I hold on to. Those ones, I generally cut up to make into book page ephemera!

Books have so much more potential than just journal covers or altered books that you tear pages out and glue others together. They have the potential to become journal pages with its text and beautiful end papers (usually pretty thick and great quality, too!) and if you are lucky, you will come across a book with some beautiful images, quotes, poetry, and other content.

This book didn't sell at a few live sales in a row. The yellow end pages and illustrations are beautiful. After cutting most of it up without reading any of the content, I realized I missed out on some beautiful poetry so I did try and save a few pieces as I went along.

Here are some examples of the beautiful images througout the book. Yes, they do have a gloss to them, however, that doesn't bother me much. There are ways you can dull down the shine, however - matte mediums, clear gesso (lots of homemade recipes for gesso online), and even scuffing it up with nail files and sandpaper. Sometimes, if the gloss clashes with my project, I will use one of the white napkin backs and glue it to the image with Elmer's. It dulls down the shine A LOT and it also gives an opaque look to the image.

I feel like the Great Repurposer whenever I gut one of these books and harvest its bounty. Covers can be so beautiful, like this Audubon book that also didn't sell a few months in a row at my sales.

The cover has faded with time but I might paint over it and repaint the birds or I might just use it the way it is! Maybe I will add to the color with some ink...who knows!

So, the next time you visit my live sales on Youtube (first Fri of every month), take a look at the books I have...maybe you will find some that you'd like to cut apart and use piece-meal.

Now, the question I have for you..... What do you suggest I do with the thousands (and counting) of images I harvest from these books? Should I sell book page ephemera packs? Include them with my general fussy cut packs(right now are mostly magazine images)? Should I back some of these with a tea dyed or graph/ledger/lined paper to create journal cards and tags? Any and all opinions are appreciated!

Thanks for reading...I hope I gave you a little inspiration today!

~Malia