Trick or Coin Book Treat by Betsy Skagen

I'm not ready for Christmas in July, but since we all know that crafts take preparation time, I can  at least muster Halloween in July (but just barely).

I am sitting lakeside on vacation this week, so I kept my project short and sweet. You can easily complete this in just one short evening.

I plan to add addition embellishments when I return home, but used what I had on hand up here in vacationland to create the main structure of this mini Halloween coin book. 

Tutorial: How to make a Mini Halloween Coin Book

We'll begin by making the pages. Prepare both sides of a 12" x 12" sheet of paper with lots of layers of acrylic paint. Add only two or three colors at a time, then dry with a heat gun so you don't end up with a muddy mess. 

Build up your paper with layers until you are happy with the results. I kept my layers fairly minimal for this projects--sometimes I go on adding layers for hours on end--it can be rather cathartic.

Next, cut two 12" strips of your paper that are slightly wider than the Artist Trading Coins. At one end of one of the strips trace around the Artist Trading Coin. Fold the strip back and forth so that each fold is at the edge of where you traced the coin. Then cut inside along the circle you traced, leaving an uncut gap on both sides where the folds are. Don't worry if the first or last piece is not a full circle.

This may sound complicated, but it is not. Think back to childhood when you likely learned how to make a paper chain of people. You are doing the same thing now, except with circles. 

Look at those yummy layers! 

Take the circle chain and adhere it to one of the Artist Trading Coins. With the circle pages folded, adhere the last circle to a second Artist Trading Coin so that you create a front and back book cover. Don't worry if these do not fully cover the the chipboard coins. 

On the second strip of paper, trace the Artist Trading Coin four separate times and cut out. Adhere one circle over each of the inside book flaps, covering where you glued the first page down. This also covers any areas where the circles were not big enough.

Glue the remaining two circles on the outside of the coins to create the outside of the book. Then use a blending tool to ink the edges of both sides of all the circles. 

Now cover the Halloween Trading Coin Covers with black ink. 

Add a layer of embossing ink and then cover with Black Magic Embossing Powder. Heat with heat gun. 

Adhere the coin covers to the front and back of your book. 

Stamp spooky images to your inside pages. 

Now that your book is complete, you can happily return to enjoying summer--because it always goes by much too fast. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Artist Trading Coins

Halloween Trading Coin Covers

Eileen Hull Black Magic Embossing Powder

Embossing ink

Black ink

Acrylic paint

Assorted stamps

Beacon Fabri-Tac