Recycle your Books into Notepads

As you have seen in previous posts, I've been using vintage books for my crafts.

So what can you do with the left overs?

I discovered this one day when I couldn't find my post-its and decided to write on some paper I was going to throw away.

Use it as a note book. Using a Sharpie you can take notes and it will still be readable.

Tutorial: Golden Book Repurposing

So you might have seen people starting to sell old children's books remade into journals.  Well I'm here to show you how to do it :)  To be honest if you dont have the equipment it might be cheaper to go ahead and purchase one from a crafting seller.

Here we start off with a classic Golden Book.  Ok this isn't that vintage, but I really liked the cover art for this Cars Book.

Now to cut off the spin,  I like to use a circle blade cutter (on a cutting mat of course).  It runs pretty smoothly on the crease of the spine of the book.

See spin comes of pretty straight.

And it comes with pretty pages inside with all the same line cut.

Using a sprial bound hole punch to cut the holes.  I've purchased a whole stack of books, and I've noticed that GoldenBooks are the thickest cut my punch can go through, so some of the older books from the 70s just dont work out here.  But you also dont want a flimsy, just cause sturdy books are well, just more sturdy. 

Here's the more expensive piece of this project. I happen to have a spiral bound hole punch sitting in my room, not everyone has one and they are pretty pricey. 

The sprial bound punches ususally also come with a handy feature which stretches out the plastic spirals so you can slide your pages in.

Here we can include blank paper for drawing, line paper for journaling, or whatever else you desire.  I like to slip several pages of the original book in the middle to both section off chucks of the book and give back to the wonders of the story.

In my case the plastic spirals (purchase and the office supply store for pretty cheap) is too long.  But no worries, any handy dandy scissors cut those down the size really easily.

Yay now you have your own little self made journal.






WARNING:  Please practice using the sprial bound punch.  Here's some photographic evidence of my many botches.

Mistborn Sketch

I drew this sketch in my hotel room across the street from the San Diego Comic-Con.  I received an autographed copy of the book from Brandon Sanderson at the TOR booth!

I ran into Brandon Sanderson in the hall and got a picture with him! I am wearing my mistcloak. I found him to be a really nice guy, and I love his books! He even signed a couple of Wheel of Time book plates for me which I put in the two Wheel of Time books he co-wrote.

Here is the original pencil sketch before I went over it with a brush pen. I am still experimenting with brush pen techniques.

Book Review - Dragon Haven

Dragon Haven (Book Two of the Rain Wilds
Chronicles) by Robin Hobb

I love Robin’s unique take on dragons. She builds off of the telepathic dragon concept many may be familiar with from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. However, unlike the juvenile Eragon books, Hobb’s dragons only start with that concept.


The Rain Wilds dragons have a unique life cycle where they start off as sea serpents, then undergo a metamorphosis to eventually become majestic flying creatures with arms, legs, and wings. Unfortunately centuries have passed since the last dragons ruled the skies and the sea serpents forgot how to become dragons. Old and tired and guided by the last remaining dragon queen, they embark on a journey up a river to a place where they can undergo the metamorphosis. Only a few survive to hatch, and they emerge as small, deformed and clumsy shadows of what dragons are supposed to be.

Of course, this all happened in the first book. In the second book, which I just finished reading, the fledgling dragons have to swim up river again, this time trudging along in the shallows, guided by their keepers, a few hunters and a barge and its crew who have embarked on a journey to lead the dragons to their ancestral home… which is only rumored to exist. The dragons and their keepers grow and change both in character and physically during the journey. The author takes us deeper into her unique dragon ideas with a concept that dragon blood can alter humans and turn them into magical “Elderling” creatures, which seem to be strange but beautiful mutated dragonish humanoids. However, the changes are not always predictable and can go horribly wrong…

I found the second book to be as enjoyable as the first, and look forward to the third. I thought it started out a little slow, with most of the plot revolving around romances and relationships, but halfway through it got interesting and the end is worth the wait and leaves you interested in what while happen in the next book.

I would love to see someone make a costume based on the character Thymara from this book.

Book Review - The Way of Kings



Gotta love the Michael Whelan cover art.

If you like epic fantasy, this is a must-read book. I just finished it last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's hard to put down!

This is the first book of a new multi-volume epic saga by Brandon Sanderson (Twttier: @BrandonSandrson), the guy who is finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga. It is obvious that a lot of thought and effort has been put into this novel, from the gorgeous cover by Michael Whelan, to the maps and drawings inside the book and the text itself.

The story comes full circle from beginning to end as a stand-alone novel should, and yet it leaves you at changing point, looking forward to what the characters will do in the next volume. You follow three main characters on their separate, yet converging journeys. The author also bounces around other viewpoints of minor characters, which might be confusing (especially at the beginning) for those who are not used to stories of epic proportions, but I liked it; it is a tell-tale sign of an epic. Plus, the story didn't feel rushed or lengthly. I enjoy a 1001-page book that isn't boring but also isn't over too fast.

I really love the world that Sanderson creates for this saga. The driving theme is storms, and he brings that into everything from the landscapa, flora and fauna to the style of warfare and the magic system itself. It's truly unique and makes this story stand apart from stereotypical warrior/magic fantasy stories. The story doesn't start in a tavern, it starts on a battlefield. This book is action-packed!

I can't wait for the next installment. Are there more potential Radiants we will meet? Will Kaladin and Shallan hook up? What is the deal with the Heralds?