Here is my newest house - the Old Book House. It's made with a sturdy box my brother saved for me. This post highlights this particular house which I am going to share with Frilly and Funkie's "On the Cutting Edge" challenge which asks you to use dies in your project. I don't know if I have ever made anything recently that didn't use dies. I love die cutting. I could not make these houses without the dies.
I am also writing a lesson on making books to join the Stamps and Stencil Challenge called "Technique School" which I will post later today.
The base is made from the box my brother saved. I add the covers and the spine on top of the box. The "pages" of the book are made from cardstock scored and distressed with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo stains and sprays. I have used tea in the past. Other people use coffee, but I don't have any coffee at my house as I just don't drink it.
The house itself is cut from a die that I had custom made, but it is actually the offcuts from the die. Sometimes you can find neat shapes from the offcuts. I use a set of dies I got from eBay to cut out windows and the door and the circle for the clock, but they are not traditional craft dies. I use an arbor press to cut them out.
The tree is Tim Holtz' Branch Tree from Sizzix. It is kind of retired. You can find it online at times, but Sizzix now sells it as a special order. It's the best tree die that I've seen so it makes me kind of sad that it is retired. I use it so much that I actually bought a spare when I realized it was being retired.
The kitty on the side is the cat from the new Trick or Treat Thinlets by Tim Holtz. I thought the house needed a black cat sneaking around.
The owl is also from a new Tim Holtz die "Moonlit Owl" which I love. I glued a tiny piece of yellow cardstock between 2 layers of the owl to make the eyes stand out better.
The other dies I used were the windows from an old classic Elizabeth Craft Holiday House die. When I make a smaller house I use these windows as the frames. If I make a bigger house I usually use the window frames from one of the Village Dwelling series from Tim Holtz.
I lined the drawer with black paper stenciled with Distress Oxide Wilted Violet through a new Stampers Anonymous stencil called Rosette. Isn't it cool that it works so nicely on black? There is a hole at the bottom of the house that will allow a light to shine through the windows if you want to put an LED light in the drawer. I had to add a grosgrain ribbon at the notch on the drawer just to make it easier to open.
The pumpkins are polymer clay that I made last night. I ran out of my first batch this year. It may not be very imaginative to use the pumpkins on every house, but I like them. Also I put windows and clock on the back so you could use the house either way - with the spine of the book facing you or the pages with the drawer facing you.
The roof is my standard metallic roof - aluminum duct tape, scored, then texture paste randomly applied, and stained with various alcohol inks and some Black Soot paint.
The cover on the book was made using a canvas paper painted with a black acrylic paint and with some blue rubbed in. I aged it a little using Picket Fence on the edges. The book title is a Stampers Anonymous Halloween stamp using embossing ink and then Princess Gold embossing powder.
Just like all the others, this house is to be sold for Habitat for Humanity of Greenville.
Thank you for reading my blog. I do enjoy comments if you would like to ask me something or leave a little encouragement. It is always appreciated.
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Sara Barker
Lucy, you amaze me every time I visit! This house is fabulously spooky and every single detail tickles me black and orange (pink)! I love your roof and the owl. Of course, the texture on your tree and shiplap is incredible! Oh, how I would love to pick this up and hold it, so I could see every crack and cranny! Well done, YOU! Oh, before I forget I want to say thank you for playing along with our On the Cutting Edge challenge at Frilly and Funkie! Hugs! Sara Emily
Team Clark
The book base is such a neat idea here! You always use your house dies in such creative ways, this has so many neat details. It's a joy to see you playing along with us at Frilly & Funkie. Hugs, Autumn
Suzanne C
What a cool and fun Halloween gift/decoration! You can put a surprise inside the book as a treat! Spooky and beautiful all rolled in one. Thanks for playing along with us in the Frilly and Funkie Cutting Edge Challenge!
Laney
Love reading about all the details in this house project. Can you share more about the dies from Ebay and the arbor press you use? This is a great looking house - I can't believe it is the off cuts! - and the book is gorgeous.
Lucy
Laney,
I wrote a little bit about those dies and the arbor press in a post on the Cardboard Christmas forum today. See if that answers your question - https://www.cardboardchristmas.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1376
I hope that helps.
Lucy
Kim Marie
Amazing and inspiring work! I’m so happy to have found your blog!