Made It Monday

I recently weeded some of our older fiction books because we are getting about 500 new books in about month.  (EEK!  So excited about that!)  I hate just throwing those books out so I usually put them out for the kids to "adopt," (Read about the Adopt a Book program HERE) but these books are so old that I don't think the kids would read them even if they did adopt them. That's kind of why they haven't circulated in more than 10 years and why they need to be weeded in the first place.

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Then I remembered pinning some really cool ideas for recycling old books.  One of them was THIS cool idea for a Halloween costume.

I've been thinking about making it for a few years and was finally able to create it last Halloween and wear it at our school's Fall Festival.

It took me a couple of hours to put together, but I think it came out cute.  (You can find the directions for making most of this costume on the Lilliedale blog by clicking HERE.)

Another idea I found on Pinterest for recycling old books was folded book art.  I did some research on book folding and came across some how to videos on YouTube.  I was very excited about all the possibilities so of course I made a Pinterest board for Weeded Book Crafts and then, like so many other Pinterest addicts, got around to actually making something 2 years later.

This was my first attempt.  It's okay.  My twelve year old thought it looked cool.  He actually asked me how I did it.

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I REALLY want to work my way up to making something like this for Valentine's Day.  I might attempt it this weekend when I have an extra day to get frustrated.  Good thing I have lots of weeded books to practice on.

Not one to surrender to mediocrity, I came across some "newspaper" fabric that was left by the previous media specialist and I got the idea to make craft I felt confident would turn out better...a book page wreath.  I made a night of it by watching The Librarians (LOVE this new series....even if Noah Wyle is not in every episode *sad face*) while I cut fabric strips.  That's my kind of Sunday night.  LOL

I tied the cut fabric strips onto a wire hanger, pushing each strip down as I went and twisting every other one to make the wreath more "fluffy."

The final product turned out pretty good...(it needed a little more "fluffing" in this picture).

...better than my first attempt at folded book art, anyway.

My craftiness inspired my boys to do a little art of their own.  That's a picture of Yoda, a dog being attacked by a couple of flying squirrels, and a monkey. (My oldest doesn't like his picture taken, but did allow me to photograph his painting.  He is so gracious.)  Not exactly weeded book art, but art nonetheless.  They make my heart smile.  =)

What do you think? Do you have any ideas for upcycling weeded books?