These are miniature book ornaments from my childhood. I’ve always loved them.
They are complete with miniature text, pictures, and sheet music.
These little books inspired me to make up my own ornaments using some of my family’s favorite titles.
I’ve bought most of my books at used book stores, not only to save money, but because I often find prettier covers!
Here’s my copy of Louisa May Alcott’s classic ‘Little Women’…
I made copies of the front and back covers at 35%.
I overlapped them at the spine and glued them together.
Then I took some large parchment paper (found with the calligraphy stuff in the craft store)…
…and cut some strips slightly less wide than the cover.
I traced the miniature cover onto cardboard and cut it out,and scored the spine in the middle, using the cover as a guide. Then I glued the copy of the cover onto the cardboard.
Then I just fan folded the parchment strips and hot glued them into the spine of the book.
Some extra details included distressing the edges of the book with Tim Holz distress tool.
Rubbing the edges in ‘Old Paper’ Distress Ink…
Attaching a grommet at the top of the back cover…
Making a hanger out of gold thread…
Adding glittery accents with Stickles…
And finally, adding a ribbon at the top.
I picked two other titles, one for each of my girls. Giving someone a miniature book of their favorite title would be a sweet gift. Or how about using a little book as a tag on a gift of the actual book itself?
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
I’m working on drawing a design for our Christmas cards this week~if you haven’t ‘liked’ my FB page yet, click over and you can see my first sketch of carolers.
Thanks for stopping by!
Love, love, love this idea Scarlett! Your Little Women book cover is beautiful and perfect for this.
Scarlet,
These are wonderful!! I love them!! You are amazing!!
Love to you and your family this Christmas!!
Laura
Oh these are so cute…I have been making some ornaments lately & I will definately add these to my to do list this month……
Now to check out the FB page 🙂
XO
so cool!! I love these! What great ideas you have my dear Scarlett! ~sue
What a clever idea Scarlett!!! Absolutely love these ornaments!!! I love vintage books and the illustrations on the covers. I can’t wait to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!!! ~Sophia
Ohhhhh wonderful books Scarlett!!! Especially love the stickles on the dresses, awesome!
GASP! You know that I love these! You make it look so easy. I probably don’t have time to do it this year, but I’m going to have to keep this in mind as something to do for the book club girls next year (and if any of them are reading this, they can just pretend they didn’t see it!). Absolutely beautiful!
I saw something on C’s fb about your heel injury — praying for healing and relief of pain. The girls would’ve loved to run with y’all this weekend, but they are tied up with piano Saturday morning.
Thanks, Susan! I was thinking of you and some other bibliophiles I know when I was making these, lol! Thanks about my ankle…yep, I messed up my Achilles tendon on my right foot somehow and haven’t been able to do much, such a bummer right before the 5K! Thanks for the prayer, I need it to heal quick. Talk to ya’ll later, thanks for coming by! 🙂
Adore them! I would have also picked Little Women and Heidi, is that third one Anne of Green Gables? Good choice, all the titles coming to mind – The Secret Garden, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Wizard of Oz LOL and more!
Hi Sandi, yep the third one is ‘Anne of Green Gables’, the title on the book is gold like ‘Little Women’ but it didn’t show up for some reason…guess I could go back over it with a gold gel pen and make it more visible? Oooh I love Secret Garden,too! I need to make one of those! Once you start, you want to make a lot. 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind words, have a great week!
These are so precious!
Scarlett these are lovely! We’ve enjoyed pulling out all our homemade ornies and making a few new ones! Blessings for you and yours.
These are so cute! Some of my favorite books, too!!
Love these, I remember your little books on your tree when you were little. I love that you still have them!! Your so cleaver to make your own, looking even better than the bought one’s. Love how clear the smaller copy is, don’t know how you did that? Fantastic as always. Love you honey!!
Love your little book ornaments – plan to make some of mine own as gifts for the ladies in my book reading club. They’ll totally love them too.
Terry
PS: Reading your blog about your baby boy is heartbreaking – there is so much pain in our world, but remember that God has a rescue plan for our world & is returning very soon to take us all to Heaven and then after a time we’ll return to a New Earth, free of sin, where we’ll live for eternity with our Lord & Saviour. Your son will live disease free forever….what a beautiful promise from our Creator.
Your little books are charming. What a great way to honor the ones from your childhood. I did see your Carolers over on FB and they are beautiful. Holiday Creative Bliss Dear…
So sweet Scarlett :))
I love them!
I am just taking down Fall at my house…oh my soooo behind!
Hope you are having a blessed weekend:)
xo
Kay Ellen
You amaze me every time!! These are so adorable and would add so much charm to any tree. LOVE them!!
You never cease to amaze me! What a beautiful and meaningful project – and I bet your holiday home is gorgeous!!! xoxo
Ha! I swear I didn’t see the comment above me when I wrote mine – see, you amaze us all :))) xoxo
Hi Scarlett – absolutely amazing – and those two little books from your youth – are so precious … the ornaments – so creative – gosh I wish I had 1/10th of your talent .. very very clever .. and I’d love to see them in person.
Congratulations on another wonderful posting and idea .. Hilary
What a great idea! This is fabulous and of course, I want to do some…..maybe next year. Time is of the essence. xoxo to you and your family!
Wow! These are adorable! You’re so talented and I love seeing what you come up with next! Simply inspiring! ~Vanessa
This is perfect! You did a fantastic job of showing each step with nice pics. I will be doing this for sure. I have a gnome order who needs a little book adornment. Thank you.
Hi Monique! I’m glad you liked this project and I hope you have fun making your own little book!
Thanks for the kind words and have a blessed day! ~Scarlett