Vintage sheet music is full of noise—plaid backgrounds, crooner portraits, cluttered designs. My first Art Playdate became an exercise in creative cutting to find the solid blocks of color hiding underneath.

Was my Victorian stamp purchase worth it when it turned out to be the wrong size? The answer involves a serendipitous thrift store find, rock-hard rubber, and a hard-won print of my own initials.

I opened a drawer looking for a sketchbook and found vintage sheet music instead—and remembered what play feels like. Welcome to Art Playdate, a monthly exploration of forgotten materials and rediscovered joy.

Taking apart books for collage materials is a skill that gets easier with practice. In this video lesson, I show you exactly how I deconstruct a hardcover book and what I look for (and avoid). This is one of the lessons in my new online class- Impressed: Printmaking and Collage.