Got Books? Part I

                I love books. I mean love them! I have a bookcase full in my living room. And another bookcase in my bedroom that is a tad full. And the stairwell leading to the upstairs bed rooms is lined with books. And some boxes in the basement. OK, I may have a bit of a problem. Now I do pass books on. Friends, church, Goodwill, and so on. But, I still end up with more than I need to keep, and I decided I needed to do something with them. Well, actually I was gently asked (well, threatened, with a midnight drop off at St. Vincent de Paul) to clear some space up.

          While I did take a bunch to the kid’s school and posted some on freecycle, there were still some books that I wouldn’t mind getting rid of that no one seemed to want. I wanted to DO something with them, but I didn’t know what. Then I remembered an article I had read awhile back where the author suggested keeping a hollow book in your home to hide important papers or extra money. This makes a thief finding these things much less likely. While I didn’t make one for my personal things, I decided that I would make one for each of my kiddos. They were a hit! They each have a book that they can hide in their room to keep all of their favorite treasures in.  

          This also left me with a bunch of pages that I didn’t want to just throw out. I decided to jump on the book page wreath bandwagon and make one with what was leftover. See Got Books II tomorrow for that one :)!

          Materials needed for hollow book:

·         A hard back book you don’t mind taking pages out of

·         A marker or pen

·         A craft knife or razorblade

·         Mod podge

·         Foam brush

·         Ruler

Materials if also making wreath:

·         wreath form

·         hot glue gun

·         glue stick

·         pages you extracted from the hard back book

First, grab a book you don't mind re-purposing. (Sorry to anyone who loves "Among Thieves")

Next, get the ruler. Make sure that it is a fairly long book, as this will lend more stability to your hollow book. Open it up to page 40 or so and with your ruler and marker draw a border around much of the printed area. This will be the area that you will be cutting out with your knife.

Press your craft knife as hard down as possible with cutting into the shape so that you can go through more than a page or two at a time. You have a LOT of pages to go through and a life, so the more you can get through the better. After the initial pages are cut, there is no need to continue marking out the remaining pages as you will keep cutting within the boundaries of what has already been cut. Continue cutting out pages until there is around 1/5-1/4 of the book left. It is important to stop at this point as going any further will lessen the stability of your hollow book.

Now is the time for the mod podge and foam brush. Dip your brush into the mod podge and trace around the page every 10-20 pages. DO NOT glue around the first page that you cut into as this will glue your book closed. 

Then glue AROUND the outside of the book of the pages that have been cut, making sure to leave the first 10-20 pages free as this will lend a more realistic book look to the finished product. 

To get the best seal on the pages place the book under something heavy such as a weight or chair. Let the book rest there until dry. I usually just leave them out overnight and they are good in the morning.

Now you, or your kiddos, have a place to hide your important things. Like your Magic Wigglee Worms.