Who Wrote The Book of Santa?

I did! Well, sort of. For some time I've admired all of the creative books made by mixed media artists. And I've known that I had a book in me, too. Maybe even more than one! At any rate, here it is. The Book of Santa. This is a gift for a quilting friend who loves Santa Claus, and has a collection of Santa-related holiday decorations. She received it in her Christmas package last week, so it's safe to show it here now.

I carried the vision for a step-book like this one, using the S-A-N-T-A letters, around with me for awhile. Gradually I pictured how to sew each letter onto a cardstock base, and then add all of the various paper elements and embellishments. This photo shows the inside, page 1. I took a large plastic bin and tossed in every usable "Christmasy" thing already in my supplies, along with some purchased embellishments. So every page became a potpourri of ribbon, paper, gemstones, glitter glue, paper text, scrapbook paper... you name it.


I even tried out some new methods learned as I continue exploring mixed media. The star shown here is my attempt at a Zentangle-type design. The icicle is a scrap of fusible-backed fabric trimmed with a decorative-blade rotary cutter. And the little flower/snowflake on the left is a piece of dyed tatting. A friend from the Citra sewing and crafting group gave me a whole zip-top bag of her tatting rejects. You don't find many needleworkers who tat anymore, so the pieces were a gift.

A Dover CD of vintage images came in handy, and I had to try out the Crop-o-dial Eyelet Setter on some of the pages. Buttons and fabric text, paper shapes and paint pens... that's a mighty big plastic tote that holds all this stuff!

I wanted a bulky and festive fiber binding for this book, so again I gathered up ribbon, fabric strips, yarns, buttons and beads. Another friend gifted me with a bag of gorgeous feathers from his exotic birds. He found some beauties around the farm yard, and this green feather was just the one to tuck into the binding.









I found a series of charms that spelled out WISH, and added them to the binding. It seemed to fit the theme nicely... Santa is all about wishes. And the letters go well with more tatting and the pearl drops.


Every page took some thought and deliberation as well as application of the various elements. So I "built" the book over time, working on it little by little. Since this is my first book, there is plenty to learn about page composition and techniques. But I must say,this was a fun beginning.

And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight... Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night! The end.