Scrap Paper Circus
Upcycled Book Arts Studio
Summer 2022
Virtual Workshop
Making Upcycled Books
Thursday, July 14, 7--9pm ET
Thursday, July 21, 7--9pm ET
Thursday, July 28, 7--9pm ET
Four classes in one! Join me in this 3-part Zoom workshop I developed for Atlas Obscura where you'll learn how to transform ordinary envelopes into 4 charming handmade books. Over three Thursdays in July, we'll turn air mail envelopes into postal-themed notebooks, experiment with accordion books using kraft envelopes, and transform business-reply envelopes into a collaged artist book. This class is appropriate for beginners, but even intermediate students will learn how to start thinking like a book artist!
Past Workshops

Mail Art Pop-Up Flower Card
Create a moment of unexpected joy for a loved one with this card filled with flowers that "bloom" when the cover is opened. Students will choose the paper used to make their flowers and decorate the base of the card to match.

Upcycled Bar Soap Box Book
Students turn a common soap box into a small, hardcover book with a cloth-covered spine and contrast stitching. These books are not only fun to make, but easy to carry around for jotting reminders or creating small sketches

Upcycled Kraft Envelope Journal
A stack of 6 x 9 Kraft Envelopes is transformed into a stunning journal full of pockets when combined with a folded spine invented by book artist Hedi Kyle. Perfect for documenting a trip with lots of places to store tickets, receipts and other ephemera!

Upcycled Lunch Sack Journal
The lowly lunch sack becomes a lovely blank journal in this popular class. Makes a wonderful travel notebook, nature journal, garden journal, art journal, or scrapbook.

Upcycled Mail Art Wallets
Learn how to turn junk mail envelopes into clever collaged pocketbooks with four internal, pop-up style pockets. A great place to stash ephemera, sewing needles, postage stamps, and more.

File Cabinet in a Book
This "filing cabinet" in book form sports a cereal box cover containing Manila folder files filled with security envelope pages. The perfect structure for storing a categorized visual archive of anything from paper swatches to stencil patterns

Upcycled Cereal Box Mini Notebooks
Cereal boxes are given new life as a set of mail-themed mini notebooks. Students learn proper folding, gluing and stitching techniques, as well as how to create a button and string closure from scratch

Altered Playing Cards in Folded Case
Students make a set of collaged playing cards as well as a book structure to house them. Book structure based on Hedi Kyle's Blizzard Book from her book "The Art of the Fold"

Star Book Holiday Ornament
Old book pages become a stunning, star-shaped holiday ornament using simple but clever folding techniques and rubber stamping. Students leave with three different ornaments of different sizes.

Greeting Card Keepsake Book
Treasured cards from friends and loved ones are bound into a gorgeous book structure where they can be protected and perused in quiet moments. Students bring their own cards and leave with a beautiful bound book