My interest in books goes well beyond a good read. I’m often measuring the cover for its dimensions, scanning the pages for interesting words or phrases and checking for aging and yellowing pages. I see a different kind of story. Not one told with words but a story told through art.

I love to cut the book apart and repurpose the covers by altering with art materials or covering them with beautiful papers. The inside pages are useful for cutting words and phrases to layer in the art or to punch several sizes of circles to create delicate layered paper flowers.

In my latest class project I used this book cover that measures approximately 5 inches by 9 inches. It is prepped with Claudine Hellmuth gesso before covering it with beautiful papers from the 5th Avenue line by Melissa Frances. Layers were created by white-washing the paper, stamping with gesso, bubble wrap and ink. A variety of shapes, die cut on my Vagabond with Tim Holtz dies, help to create dimension and pull the theme together.

I added a photo of my mother as an infant with her parents William and Maritina Frazer and finished it off by adding a decorative wire for hanging. This class is currently scheduled at Scrapbook Peddler in Saginaw for Aug. 21.