gluebook pages

Every time I see some gluebook pages on Mary Green's blog, I get inspired to make a few. My husband was out of town last week for 3 days, so I hauled a bunch of stuff out to the kitchen table and made a big old mess while I watched the Olympics.

My mom being held by her dad, around 1925.
The circus is in the background.
Love the pop of orange postage stamp with the blues.

These things do well as an assembly line item so I made up 6 backgrounds one evening, patching together old book pages, maps, sheet music and misc papers until I had the cardboard covered. Then I smeared gesso over everything, and stuck some masking tape onto the gesso while it was still wet, a la this tutorial. I was on a roll and didn't have the patience to wait until it was dry, so I peeled it off after I stopped and ate a cookie, so about 15 minutes after I put it on. I had to be careful not to pull the whole thing apart, as she warns, but it worked out fine. I layered them in cereal box liners (FREE! and what I use instead of roll after roll of wax paper) and stacked them under a heavy book for the night since they tend to warp.

Loved the pic of the horse looking thru the gate so I used him with half
of an old Italian postcard that had a horse statue on it.
Added red to pick up the red in the ledger paper.

Next evening I put most some very little of my previous supplies away and got out postage stamps, people pics, and a box of vintage-y ephemera. I laid out all 6 backgrounds and just started putting items on various backgrounds as I dug thru my files and boxes. Pretty soon I had loosely themed piles of goodies on each card. Then I picked one and rearranged, discarded and added stuff until I liked it. Glued it down and went on to the next one. So in two evenings, I made these 6 cards. Gluebook pages offer an excellent payoff in time vs product!


Which one do you like best??


I'm keeping the first three but the last three are up for trade. Anybody interested? They're 5x7 with no holes punched yet, and I haven't finished the backs but will before I trade them.

My mom sitting on the steps of a porch in Dayton Ohio around 1925.
Had those little squares of paper left from doing the backgrounds
so I used them here. I really like this one.

I think the woman is a Vanderbilt daughter. I had originally saved her for using in
Lenna's vintage greeting card swap but didn't.
The flowers are an original page from a small 1932 book of wild flowers
from my yard saling friend Moneka.
The torn bits at top are part of a napkin taken apart to its three layers.
Love how it blends right in.

The girl is an original little card from an old album.
Layered her on part of an old book page.
The stamps are originals. Love how they pick up the colors.

The girl is an image from an old book layered onto edges from a map
I used in the backgrounds. The dictionary page had been painted green
for some other long ago project and the ticket was from a swap.