Book Description from Goodreads.com
published October 2nd 2007 by Berkley Hardcover
binding Hardcover
isbn 0425217302 (isbn13: 9780425217306)
pages 288
This Halloween, the bestselling mystery author makes New Orleans even spookier than usual. Carmela's friend Ava is having a Halloween bash at her scrapbooking store, and she hires a sexy Tarot reader named Giovanni to work the crowd. What he doesn't foretell is that on her way home Carmela will find the body of a beautiful model behind a Dumpster, and be attacked herself. But he's the one who appears to save her-or was he already there? Giovanni's the number one suspect, but Ava is determined to stand by her employee...even if he does have a way of dodging questions. Ava and Carmela have plenty of other strange leads to follow up, like the tooth marks around the victim's neck, and the non-human hairs found at the scene. As the witching hour draws closer, Carmela must discover what's lurking in the shadows of the French Quarter-or the only thing left to scrapbook will be her death certificate.
Book excerpts:
Chapter 4, page 31-
Flicking the lights on, Carmela's eyes fell upon a collection of miniature paper theaters. Those little half-completed objects made her smile again. Her regulars were always pressing her for new and creative projects, projects that incorporated scrapbooking, paper arts, rubber stamping, embossing, tag art, and even calligraphy. And after a little consideration, Carmela had come up with these crazy little paper theaters.
First made popular in the eighteenth century, paper theaters re-created opera sets, Punch and Judy shows, fairy tales, tales of Greek mythology, Wild West shows, children's stories, and pretty much anything you could think of.
Gabby had turned a fourteen-by-fourteen-inch wooden box into a Venetian theater, complete with marbleized columns, tiny velvet curtains, movable pieces of scenery, and a top cornice that included a small clock flanked by gilded masks. Her cast of miniature cardboard characters included clowns, minstrels, circus performers, and magicians.
Carmela herself had taken a cardboard gift box with top flaps, flipped it on end, and was working on turning it into a Theatre de la Vampyr. Looking very much like a triptych now, she had a added a purple velvet backdrop, black and silver paint, and a miniature lamppost. Spooky castle turrets out of plastic modeling clay. She was going to add wax seals, purple tassels, and miniature iron gates to the proscenium and was searching for some bits of black lace to really stylize it.
Chapter 15, page 142-3
Carmela took a sheet of paper and spread it across the tombstone, taping it in position with strips of masking tape. Then she carefully ran a hand over the paper to ensure no bubbles or bumps would interfere with her rubbing.
"I think a charcoal gray would offer the most contrast on white," she said, selecting a piece of chalk.
"Wouldn't black work better?"
"First we'll get the words and details down," explained Carmela. "Then later, back at my shop, I can always use black to outline the letters and carvings, really make 'em pop."
"So you just use regular chalk?" asked Ava.
"Archival chalk. It's softer and will capture the best impression from the stone."
"Sidewalk chalk's not good enough, huh?" sad Ava.
....
"This chalk's better," said Carmela. "Watch." She bent over and started rubbing the chalk against the paper. She started off slowly, then moved on to bolder and larger strokes. Amazingly, the impression of the stone began to appear in even greater detail than it had originally looked to the naked eye. Cracks and fine lines materialized, making the flat sheet of paper seem almost three-dimensional.
Chapter 17, page 159-160
"Do you have a new idea?" asked Tandy, looking interested.
Carmella nodded. "I was going to save this project for my Dream Weaver classes, but it might be fun to take a test run."
"On what?" asked Baby.
Carmela stood up, slid out one of the drawers in her flat file, and pulled out two white cardboard templates. "They're templates for purses," she said, laying the pieces in front of Baby and Tandy. "I've got these two all ready to go." She paused. "Here's the thing. First you stamp and decorate them, which is a lot trickier than it sounds. Then you fold them up so they really look like a constructed handbag. See, I've already made dotted lines for folding. to finish them off, you add side tabs, a handle, and maybe a fancy closure."
"What's the finished size?" asked Baby. She was already folding her template, eager to get a sense of what her little purse would look like when it was finished.
"About eight inches long, six inches tall," said Carmela.
"A purse," said Tandy, slowly warming up to the idea. "For what purpose?"
"Decorated with beads and fibers, they make adorable gift bags," said Carmela. "For jewelry or candles. Or a piece of lingerie. Or maybe even some homade cookies."
p.162
Carmela figured she'd procrastinated as much as she could and now had to buckle down. So she dragged her papier-mache pumpkins out from her office.
"YOu're doing more pumpkins?" asked Baby.
"For Halloween luminarias," said Carmela. "To line the runway at Moda Chadron."
....
She was busy painting the papier-mache pumkin with a coat of adhesive.
....
Gabby slit open a package of gold foil and handed a piece to Carmela. It was thin, flimsy material and required a delicate touch.
Carmela put a finger to her adhesive, testing it. Perfect. Tacky, but no longer wet. She took the sheet of gold foil and applied it to the surface of the pumpkin. Then she worked the foil carefully, patting it, smoothing out wrinkles as she went along.
"That looks good," said Gabby.
Carmela eased another piece on, continued to smooth it gently. When the entire pumpkin was covered, she'd take a small dry rag and wipe it all over the surface. That technique would smooth out any final wrinkles, flake off any extraneous pieces.
Chapter 23, page 226
"Ephemera. I keep hearing about it as the newest thing, but I'm not sure exactly..."
"Carmela?" said Gabby. "Do you want to ..."
"Ephemera is and isn't new," said Carmela. "It's new as a kind of hot topic in scrapbooking and collecting, but it's really about old things."
"Explain please," said the woman, looking even more interested.
"The term, ephemera, is meant to define something short-lived or transitory. Particularly paper documents. And by that I mean sheet music, vintage postcards, old maps, tourist brochures, antique valentines, catalog pages, and such."
"I get it," said the woman, nodding.
"Some people love to incorporate ephemera into their scrapbooks," said Carmela. "There ws a woman in here last week who was doing a scrapbook for her future daughter-in-law. She mixed photos of her son as a child with things like his old report cards, his Captain Midnight manual, a book report, and some old postcards he had sent from camp."
"What a wonderful idea," said the woman.
"Of course," said Carmela, "you can use just a piece or two to enhance a scrapbook page. An old valentine juxtaposed with a wedding photo, and antique playbill with a school play, an old map for a scrapbook page detailing a vacation."
The above are excerpts from the book that looked like interesting projects. There are other tips and some recipes in the back of the book (I just photocopied them, mostly so I can read them, even do it to the ones I buy, check the book out of the library and copy them as my eyes now hate me, LOL)...as with all her books there are always extras in the back!!
Chapter 4, page 31-
Flicking the lights on, Carmela's eyes fell upon a collection of miniature paper theaters. Those little half-completed objects made her smile again. Her regulars were always pressing her for new and creative projects, projects that incorporated scrapbooking, paper arts, rubber stamping, embossing, tag art, and even calligraphy. And after a little consideration, Carmela had come up with these crazy little paper theaters.
First made popular in the eighteenth century, paper theaters re-created opera sets, Punch and Judy shows, fairy tales, tales of Greek mythology, Wild West shows, children's stories, and pretty much anything you could think of.
Gabby had turned a fourteen-by-fourteen-inch wooden box into a Venetian theater, complete with marbleized columns, tiny velvet curtains, movable pieces of scenery, and a top cornice that included a small clock flanked by gilded masks. Her cast of miniature cardboard characters included clowns, minstrels, circus performers, and magicians.
Carmela herself had taken a cardboard gift box with top flaps, flipped it on end, and was working on turning it into a Theatre de la Vampyr. Looking very much like a triptych now, she had a added a purple velvet backdrop, black and silver paint, and a miniature lamppost. Spooky castle turrets out of plastic modeling clay. She was going to add wax seals, purple tassels, and miniature iron gates to the proscenium and was searching for some bits of black lace to really stylize it.
Chapter 15, page 142-3
Carmela took a sheet of paper and spread it across the tombstone, taping it in position with strips of masking tape. Then she carefully ran a hand over the paper to ensure no bubbles or bumps would interfere with her rubbing.
"I think a charcoal gray would offer the most contrast on white," she said, selecting a piece of chalk.
"Wouldn't black work better?"
"First we'll get the words and details down," explained Carmela. "Then later, back at my shop, I can always use black to outline the letters and carvings, really make 'em pop."
"So you just use regular chalk?" asked Ava.
"Archival chalk. It's softer and will capture the best impression from the stone."
"Sidewalk chalk's not good enough, huh?" sad Ava.
....
"This chalk's better," said Carmela. "Watch." She bent over and started rubbing the chalk against the paper. She started off slowly, then moved on to bolder and larger strokes. Amazingly, the impression of the stone began to appear in even greater detail than it had originally looked to the naked eye. Cracks and fine lines materialized, making the flat sheet of paper seem almost three-dimensional.
Chapter 17, page 159-160
"Do you have a new idea?" asked Tandy, looking interested.
Carmella nodded. "I was going to save this project for my Dream Weaver classes, but it might be fun to take a test run."
"On what?" asked Baby.
Carmela stood up, slid out one of the drawers in her flat file, and pulled out two white cardboard templates. "They're templates for purses," she said, laying the pieces in front of Baby and Tandy. "I've got these two all ready to go." She paused. "Here's the thing. First you stamp and decorate them, which is a lot trickier than it sounds. Then you fold them up so they really look like a constructed handbag. See, I've already made dotted lines for folding. to finish them off, you add side tabs, a handle, and maybe a fancy closure."
"What's the finished size?" asked Baby. She was already folding her template, eager to get a sense of what her little purse would look like when it was finished.
"About eight inches long, six inches tall," said Carmela.
"A purse," said Tandy, slowly warming up to the idea. "For what purpose?"
"Decorated with beads and fibers, they make adorable gift bags," said Carmela. "For jewelry or candles. Or a piece of lingerie. Or maybe even some homade cookies."
p.162
Carmela figured she'd procrastinated as much as she could and now had to buckle down. So she dragged her papier-mache pumpkins out from her office.
"YOu're doing more pumpkins?" asked Baby.
"For Halloween luminarias," said Carmela. "To line the runway at Moda Chadron."
....
She was busy painting the papier-mache pumkin with a coat of adhesive.
....
Gabby slit open a package of gold foil and handed a piece to Carmela. It was thin, flimsy material and required a delicate touch.
Carmela put a finger to her adhesive, testing it. Perfect. Tacky, but no longer wet. She took the sheet of gold foil and applied it to the surface of the pumpkin. Then she worked the foil carefully, patting it, smoothing out wrinkles as she went along.
"That looks good," said Gabby.
Carmela eased another piece on, continued to smooth it gently. When the entire pumpkin was covered, she'd take a small dry rag and wipe it all over the surface. That technique would smooth out any final wrinkles, flake off any extraneous pieces.
Chapter 23, page 226
"Ephemera. I keep hearing about it as the newest thing, but I'm not sure exactly..."
"Carmela?" said Gabby. "Do you want to ..."
"Ephemera is and isn't new," said Carmela. "It's new as a kind of hot topic in scrapbooking and collecting, but it's really about old things."
"Explain please," said the woman, looking even more interested.
"The term, ephemera, is meant to define something short-lived or transitory. Particularly paper documents. And by that I mean sheet music, vintage postcards, old maps, tourist brochures, antique valentines, catalog pages, and such."
"I get it," said the woman, nodding.
"Some people love to incorporate ephemera into their scrapbooks," said Carmela. "There ws a woman in here last week who was doing a scrapbook for her future daughter-in-law. She mixed photos of her son as a child with things like his old report cards, his Captain Midnight manual, a book report, and some old postcards he had sent from camp."
"What a wonderful idea," said the woman.
"Of course," said Carmela, "you can use just a piece or two to enhance a scrapbook page. An old valentine juxtaposed with a wedding photo, and antique playbill with a school play, an old map for a scrapbook page detailing a vacation."
The above are excerpts from the book that looked like interesting projects. There are other tips and some recipes in the back of the book (I just photocopied them, mostly so I can read them, even do it to the ones I buy, check the book out of the library and copy them as my eyes now hate me, LOL)...as with all her books there are always extras in the back!!
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