I am a bit of a book collector, and a voracious reader. I am not truly happy unless there is a tall tower of books on my nightstand and on my work desk. I really don't post as often about what I am reading as I should given all the books I consume! Today I thought I would share some of the more artful titles I have been enjoying this summer and follow up with another post later this week about the memiors, fiction, and self help books I have enjoyed so far this summer as well. 
Bent, Bound and Stitched by Josie Cirincione is such a cool book, Josie shares her creative approach to collage, jewelry making and imaginative wire creations in this book.My favorite chapter in the book was the one called "wrapped", in this chapter Josie shares some of the most amazing wire creations and gives step by step instructions on how to get the great results she does when working with wire. Wire has always intimidated me a bit, but now I have my needlenose pliers, wire and metal scissors in a little basket on my craft table ready for a project. As will all the Northlight craft books, in addition to the project photos you will find step by step instructions that take the mystery out of creating and lots of suggestions that you are sure to find inspiring.To learn my about Josie check out her blog, and if you live in Arizona you can take a class from her at Mystic Paper. I am lucky enough to have met her since we share the same publisher, she is a great gal and artist! I next on my artful reading list this summer is a really fun book for the "junker" in all of us is Junk Beautiful by Sue Whtiney and Ki Nassauer.
Sue and Ki are both regular contributors to Country Home Magazine which is where I first became enamored with with their decorating tips and style that repupose antiques and "junk" into beautiful home decor. Anyone who loves electic home decor will simply drool over the room makeovers in this book! My mom and dad frequent antique auctions and estate sales, i just might have to give mom a list of "junk" I want her to find to create my own version of some of these projects. This is the type of book you leave out permanently because everytime you look at it you find something new and inspiring that you didn't notice before. Amazing eye candy, If you like this book you will also love their first book "Decorating Junk Market Style"In both of their books they also give instruction and supply list to help you junk-i-fy your projects with ease! Anyone who knows me, knows I love to create handmade book.... the funkier the better. When I happened upon The Artful Storybook: mixed media artists create handmade tales by Terry Taylor I was in heaven!
Terry and her band of super talented band of mixed medi artitst take a fresh look at the storybooks and fairy tales we are all familiar with from our childhool and interpret them in their own style with their own stories. The book shown on the cover by Catherine Moore is one of my favorites, her book "Queen of Tarts" was inspired by Marie Antoinette and is simply beautiful. With all the unique book creations in this book you get to hear the story behind the book, and how the book was made. I own a lot of books on bookarts and it can be hard to find a book that isn't duplication of what I already know or own. The Artful Storybook is unique,addition to my library that I will be inspired by for a long time to come. Some of my favorite artists are contributors to this book Claudine Helmuth, LK Ludwig, Sandra Evertson, and Catherine Moore just to name a few! Next on my artful reading list is True Vision: authentic art journaling by L.K. Ludwig 
I really have grown fond of art journaling in the last few years and I love it when I see a book that I think can truely inspire me. In addition to the amazing journal art created by L.K. and her guest artists you also receive mega- doses of inspiration and creative ammunition via the journaling prompts that are sprinkled all throughout the book and the insight activities that are are suggested to generate more creative thought. Some of my favorite contributors in the book were Lesley Riley, Amy Hanna, Kelly Rae Roberts, Tracie Lyn Huskamp and of couse LK herself. ( there are so many more artists contributing their work in this book it is unbelieveable!) Last but not least on my list of fun inspiring books this summer is Postmark L.A. by Theresa Mcfayden, Pamela Garrison, Amy Hanna, Rebecca Sower, Carolyn Peeler, and Charlotte Lyons.
First off let me begin by saying I admire every single artist in this book! They all have their own signature styles that never cease to inspire me! This book was born out of a creative gathering of all these artists last spring in Los Angeles, the book covers their adventures together and the things they created along the way and were inspired to create after their artful journey together. The art in this book is fun and unique and I truly love that each artist has shared a little bit of themselves in this book as well. It is simply delightful. Well, there you have it, these are the crafty titles I have been pouring over the last few weeks, what have you been reading? please tell me! I promise to post a little about the other catagories of my summer reading later this week. If you like to talk about books consider joining me and all my friends at Big Picture Scrapbooking in the Reading Room! It is fun and free and a place to hang with other folks that love books. Another favorite book lover's site I hang at is Good Reads, A cool site where you can read book reviews get recomendations on books, and keep an online library of the books you are reading and want to read!
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