Ya Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover

I'm taking a timeout today from the normal boring weight loss stuff and giving you another of my weekly Saturday night craft project blogs.

A few weeks ago, a very generous crafter friend of mine blessed my fuzzy leopard print socks right off when she gave me 2 GINORMOUS boxes of crafting and art supplies. They were overflowing with all kinds of goodies, some of which I still haven't figured out how to use yet! There was so much stuff that I was able to share with my sister and a set of young budding crafter triplet sisters from my church and still had so much left over that I had to get another Rubbermaid 7 drawer storage cart to hold it all and that still wasn't enough storage space. Among the loot were 12 books on all kinds of craft techniques and projects...enough to keep my little hands busy for a very long time! My favorite at the moment is one titled "Altered Books Workshop" by Bev Brazelton. I could not wait to get started on some of these techniques. So off to the local thrift store I went where they had hard cover books for 25 cents each. JACKPOT! Oh my, the selection they had! My favorites were the Readers Digest books. What amazing covers they have! Absolutely beautiful just by themselves, but I knew I could make them even more stunning using some of the techniques I learned. I couldn't decide what to try first. I mulled it over for a week before I settled on something. I will try my best to give you a step by step how to even though I forgot once again to take pictures of each stage of the process. I'll try not to bore you. Like most of my projects lately, this one took me 2 days from start to finish keeping in mind I have 3 little boys who require my constant attention. The first step was to choose a book. That was easy enough. This is one of my favorites... The book said to use PVA glue. I had no idea what that was and after searching for it at 3 different craft stores, I decided that good ole Mod Podge would do just fine!

The next step would prove to be the most difficult of the process and as my luck would have it, the most dangerous as well. You need 3 small match boxes for this stage. You can use the regular kind you find at the grocery store, but I just happened to find 3 white ones in the stash of craft supplies my friend gave me. Hold the short side of a match box next to a group of pages from the back of the book and add more until the thickness of the block equals the thickness of the matchbox. Apply Mod Podge to the edges of the block of pages with a foam brush. Let the glue dry. Hold the pages together with bulldog clips until the adhesive dries. Next place a matchbox on top of the block of pages, aligned with the edge of the page, and trace the shape with a pencil. Do this for each of the other 2 "drawers". Remember to space them out evenly.

Place a cutting mat between the block of pages and the back cover of the book. Cut along the pencil lines, removing a few pages at a time. Don't worry about the cuts being super neat. They won't be visible on the finished project. Make sure you have extra craft knife blades. This technique involves a lot of cutting. Start with a fresh blade and replace it for each of the 3 holes. It will make the whole process much easier. Occasionally as your cutting, drop the matchbox into the hole to check that it fits. Continue cutting until you've reached the cutting mat through all 3 holes.

BE CAREFUL OR THIS COULD HAPPEN......

Not to worry though, it was nothing a roll of paper towels, a tube of Neosporin and a box of Spiderman bandaids couldn't fix.

Next, paint the matchboxes. The book suggested you use spray paint to get a very thin layer so that the drawers would still slide in and out easily of the sleeve of the matchbox, but I only had red spray paint, so I very carefully applied a thin coat of brown craft paint.

I didn't need to cover the whole box because only the edges and inside would be visible.

Next, apply Mod Podge to the sleeves on just the sides and bottom and drop into the holes. Hold in place for a few seconds. Don't insert the drawers until the Mod Podge dries or you may glue it shut. Don't ask me how I know this.

Next apply the Mod Podge to the tops of the page and matchboxes and glue the preceding page to cover the mess.

At this point, I chose to decorate the front and back covers. I didn't have to, but I wanted to give it extra oomph! I just used bits of scrapbook paper and inked the edges to give it an aged look. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper. Oh, I forgot to tell you that you should give the cover a light sanding to remove any grease or dirt left from fingerprints and handling of the book. This gives the cover a more uniform look and makes it better suited for adhesives.

Next I chose some word trinkets to put into the drawers. You could just place them in the drawer and let them jiggle around, or adhere them. I chose the latter just in case little hands find their way to my new project.

You can anything you want to make the handles on the drawers. I found that beads worked beautifully. I found some that matched perfectly.

I added some additional trinkets, ribbon and ephemera to the front cover because you know, More is always better!

I used brads on the binding to add a little bit of interest.

And this is the back cover... "M" for my last name.


I didn't completely finish the project yet. I plan to decoupage something or paint or maybe do something else to these pages so that when the book is open it is beautiful too.

Isn't it fabulous? I think so. I hope I didn't bore you or lose you completely in my explanations. Tell me what you think! Until next week......