Have you ever Been to a thrift store and seen lonely books that are out of date and no longer relevant. Well here's your chance to give them a fresh new spin! Today I will be showing you how I upcycle thrift store reading material.

Materials:

A Book(The smaller the print the better)

Scissors

Elmers Glue

Diamond Glaze(Very Important)

Earring Backings(You can find these at your local craft store)

Glass Earring Pebbles(Make sure they fit on the earring Backings, ask your local craft storre sales person for sizes)

A Pen

Water Colors(Of your choice)

A Paintbrush(For Splatter Purposes)

Somewhere to Put your Watercolors(I used Ketchup cups)

Step 1: Pick Your Page and Colors

At this step you're going to want to do some planning:

1. Choose a page from the book of your choice you'd like to use.

2. Pick the colors you'd like to splat across your page.

3. Dilute the water colors to the opacity of your choosing depending on how brightly you would like the colors to come through. I used 1 part paint to 2 parts water.

4. Make sure your work surface is covered with Newspapers or something you can mess up.

Step 2: Measure and Cut

Once you have splattered your paint generously across the page you are going to use a pen, scissors and your earring backing to measure and cut the words you've selected. You can use matching words or random sections depending on the earring style you're going for.

1. Place the back of the earring on the section you'd like to be in the earring.

2. Use your pen to draw a circle around the earring so you know where to cut.

3. The piece you cut out may be a bit larger than the backing so cut until it fits snug into your earring backing.

Step 3: Glue

Once you have measured your words and they fit snuggly into the backing, glue in place with your elmers glue.

Wait until dry to move on to the next step. VERY IMPORTANT!

If not dry and secure, the paper will slip and slide during the next step.

Step 4: Diamond Glaze

Diamond Glaze runs about 6 dollars at my local craft store and is a crucial part of this craft. Diamond glaze can be used on it's on or as a staple to add the glass pebble as we are doing today. If you could not find or choose not to use glass pebbles you can stop at this step.

When using diamond glue make sure you do NOT over fill the backing. You should only fill until the page you inserted is completely covered. About 1/4 of the way of the backing.
Diamond glue might have bubbles when filling your earring so you may use a needle to get rid of them.
Bubbles are NOT your friend! Make sure you get rid of them before applyng the glass pebble.

Step 5: Placing Your Glass

When placing your glass covers over your diamond glaze be sure to use the right amount of preassure.

Press gently enough so that there are no air bubbles visible.
Hold the glass gently to the earring for about 2-5 minutes so that it dries slightly and glass does not rise off the earring when you let go.
Repeat for the other earring.
Let completely dry for about an hour or two before use. Or until the diamond glaze is dry(depends on how muc you used).
The first time I used Diamond Glue it was definitly trial and error so it'sokay to have to practice a few times.