Vintage Home Decor DIY: Boundless Books

     I was browsing Youtube the other day and found this awesome tutorial for beautiful vintage-styled boundless book paper bundles. The tutorial is done by Jc frias, who does amazing home decor/diy videos! Go check him out, he's got some wonderful tutorials I want to try!!! So anyway, the instructions seem so simple and the result looks so beautiful I just had to give it a go, so I went to town and got myself the meterials right away!!

This is how it turned out~~ Posed with my new budding collection of vintage keys > w <

 

    Oh, just on a side note, you'll notice that the background to my photos are different, that's cause I'm currently studying abroad in the UK! So I'm now living at my new dorm room~

The tutorial in the video is super simple, but I'll walk you through my process anyways.

You'll need some books, preferably thick hardbacks. You can usually get them cheap at thrift stores, so keep an eye out. I found a copy of Pride and Prejudice that would be perfect, but the thought of tearing through that gave me the chills so I left it alone. I got mine just under a pound each.

I practically grew up in a pile of books, so ripping the cover off like I did was a painful process, but eventually I got the binds off. I don't have a lighter, and I didn't want to risk the smoke detector in my room going off, so instead of running a lighter along the spine, I heated the spine on some foil over the stove to melt the glue and peel it off.

I got a fantasy novel, which means it has maps inside. I really liked the looks of them, so I carefully tore these out for later use.

Next is time to age the books. The copies were actually already kind of yellowed, but I wanted to distress it further, so I brewed some strong tea, and used the teabag as a painting tool to dye the pages. The video recommended coffee grounds, which gives a much darker shade, but I drank all my coffee and hadn't bothered to go to the super since so tea is all I have. One thing to take note is that it's important to get the edges and sides dyed, or it'll look unnatural.

It looks quite white in the photo, but it's all stained up and ready to go! Get some twine and tie your bundle up, and you're all set!

Time to get my hands on the maps I set aside! This time after dousing in tea for 5 minutes, I put it in the oven at 200F and left it for about 7 minutes. (You want to check it often, as you certainly don't want it to burn up!

Here's how they turned out:

I made a few rips and tears and curled some bits to really give them a aged look. I love how they turned out! I've arranged all this on my bedside table and I just get so happy every time I turn around!

Now I'm just gonna find a craft for the covers... hmm... they're long enough for my knitting needles to fix lengthwise... perhaps a craft supply holder? I can arrange needles and stitch markers and such~

Bird or Cage? - Bioshock Infinite Elizabeth Necklace Tutorial

Should have typed this up ages ago, I've been wearing the necklaces around for months. But anyway here goes.

As anyone familiar with the game will know, in the beginning half of the game Elizabeth meets the Luteces, who presents her with two brooches, bird or cage. 

I thought they were absolutely lovely, and of course I set off to make my very own. 

I made the bird one earlier on, and the one with the cage is modified from it. The one with the cage is more authentic, so it'll be the subject of this tutorial. Unfortunately I didn't take photographs while making these, but I'll try to explain it as clearly as possible.

The trickiest part is, of course, getting the brooches. The cage one is a birthday present from my boyfriend, who ordered it from Etsy <3 If you don't want to order it from someplace else, you can make your own. I made the bird one myself.

Okay, so first you'll need an image to work with. I got the images from screenshots and used Photoshop to modify the lighting and so on. 

Here are the images I rendered, along with ones of Possession and Murder of Crows, feel free to use them if you like =) 

I ordered empty pendants from a local online store. Mine came with glass beads with flat surfaces, but epoxy resin is also a good alternative. For glass beads, use jewelry adhesive (I used E-6000) to glue the bead to the desired image. Wait for glue to dry completely before cutting out the bead, and gluing to the empty pendant.

For epoxy resin, cut out the image and glue to the pendant, then follow the instructions on the packet to use the resin.

IMPORTANT: Be sure you print the image on glossy paper (like photo paper). Otherwise the glue/resin will seep into the paper and make the color wrong.

The pendant for my bird necklace doesn't have a brooch, but it has loops on the side where rings might be attached, so I used that to sew the pendant to the rest of the necklace.

Once you have your pendant, you'll want to find some ribbon and lace. 

The ribbon I found was a bit too thin, so I sewed two pieces together, making it just slightly wider than the lace.

Now everyone can take a minute and mock my terrible sewing skills.

The width ended up to be just over 2cm. You might want to go for 2~2.5 cm for a more authentic look. 

Then it's time to sew on the lace. As you can tell from the photo above, my sewing skills are terrible, so I can't give much advice there except the totally obvious don't t let your thread show in the front.

Next, wrap the necklace around your neck and mark where you want the closure to be. You want your necklace to fit snugly against your neck, so do make sure your measurements are exact. Velcro is a good choice if you want to be able to adjust the size with ease. If you're using invisible snaps like I did, measure the spot well and don't repeat my mistake of sewing the buttons on the wrong side. 

Combine pendant and ribbon, and voila! Your very own necklace.

A crap picture of me wearing it with my new dress XD 

I find that it's very wearable, it goes with a bunch of my outfits both casual and dressy, and every once in awhile I see someone on the street that recognizes it and makes a good conversation starter. 

If you do make one, leave a photo so I can see~ =D