The great make a purse out of a book adventure of 2011 PART1

Back in January, Tiffany posted a tutorial on how to transform a book into a purse. THIS is the original tutorial on Media Bistro.

My exact comment on her blog was : seriously. I love this idea. I can't even imagine how much time it would take me to choose a book, fabric or handles though. probably more time than it would take to assemble.

and that was before I learned how to sew!

Well, I now know how to sew and I just so happen to have three books lying around. (I used to actively scour antique stores/yard sales/flea markets/thrifts stores/etc for old Nancy Drew books.) I have quite the (incomplete) collection. sigh. I love Nancy. And along the way, I managed to get these three duplicates.

So, I decided I have three books and two friends who I know would LOVE to have one. Fabulous surprise I was going to craft for my crafty friends. Then, I sat down with my X-acto knife and the books. And I couldn't do it. I could not cut the pages out of the books.

could.

not.

do.

it.

It seemed so wasteful and demeaning to the words on the pages. I tried again. Still couldn't do it.

So, I spilled the beans in an email to Tiffany and Tina about my idea but how I couldn't cut the books. Tiffany gladly and QUICKLY volunteered her steady hand and knife for the job. (This woman is a librarian!! gasp)

It wasn't long before the Crafting Trifecta (I've made this a new tag on my blog ... so that means this won't be our only collaborative project) divided duties and started planning.

The book covers

the backs

and because I love books with histories, I feel like I should tell you more about each book we're about to mangle for a greater cause. (We are saving the pages for a craft project to be determined in the future)

The Password to Larkspur Lane once belonged to a girl named Lori Miller. She wrote her name in pink cursive. The book was published in 1966.

The Whispering Statue has the stamp of a Long Island, CA bookstore in it but no one's name. It was published in 1937. (as an aside, the copy of this book that I am keeping was owned by Lori Miller and was republished in 1970 but the cover isn't as colorful as the older one)

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall was once owned by Jana Ost and even included her telephone number. It was republished in 1973.

I remember our middle school (which we all three attended, btw) library had nearly all, if not all of the Nancy Drew books. And week after week of my 6th grade year I read them all. fond memories of Nancy.

I'm excited to mail these to Tiffany today. Then she'll do her part and blog about it and mail them along to Tina. And she'll do her part and if there's parts left to do, they'll come back to me.

I'm excited to see what these books become in the hands of my crafty friends.

ETA: I have no idea why the text is so many colors, but it probably has something to do with the copy and paste of the comment. blah. I can't fix it easily.