The Rook's Book - Creative Carte Blanche Challenge

You know I love to make books, even if they are kind of wonky. This book is definitely a little wonky, but still pretty fun to make and the inside looks cool even if the outside looks funny.

Here are some photos of previous books I've made:

This book actually opens and closes pretty well, but it probably took me a week to get it to work.

Same book as above.

This book is glued shut. That was easy.

Another book base that does not open. This is one of my favorites.

This book doesn't open either, but there is a light in the back which allows the owls eyes to light up.

So I just got a new phone for my bike trip and of course I had to buy a sturdy phone protector. Well, wouldn't you know it, the box the phone protector came in looked like a book to me.

I had been planning to make a diorama or something with one of the new Tim Holtz stamps - the Manor stamp which is so beautiful and detailed, so I decided to make a book instead. The challenge with making a book is making it so that it opens. I can do it, but that's where the wonkiness is most apparent. You will witness that in just a moment. I also wanted to make something for the Creative Carte Blanche challenge this month which is "Sun, Moon, and/or Stars". I've done a couple of challenges that involved celestial bodies so all I did was submit my most recent halloween house with a moon stuck in the back. This time I wanted to make something where the moon (the celestial body in this case) was a more integral part of the design.

Here it is - I'm calling this project the Rook's Book because Spellbinders called this embossing folder - The Noble Rook. A Rook is a sociable bird in the crow family that has grayish-white face which is supposedly easily distinguished from a crow though I find that hard to believe.

Cover in open position- that's because it really doesn't want to close.

Inside of the Rook's Book

Close-up of the Rook's Book

I stained and embossed the house almost exactly as Kim Mathura described in her tutorial because I think the way she did the Manor looks so incredible.

I cut out 4 layers of the gate, glued them together and then glued them in front of the house. The gate is also highlighted with a black shimmer wax so it would stick out a little better. I used a bat suspended on a string for a little movement in the sky.

The inner cover is new Tim Holtz stamp what makes a lovely background to the owl stamp. It looks like old wallpaper to me. I will be using that stamp over and over.

Well, that's it for now. I hope to post some details on making some of the Haunted Holtzville houses in a day or two.

Have fun and be safe with the scissors.