Monday, December 6, 2010

Crafty Christmas: Book Covers


So! It's December and I'm sure everyone has been busy decorating for Christmas, right? I'm sure there are even those crazy people that started in November. Yes, you. ;) I've been doing a lot of little, easy, DIY projects around the house and this is one of them.

I have a bunch of old books around the house that I use for decor, because they are so cute and I just love the look. But, they don't really go with holiday decorations. So I came up with this little idea. Remember in school when you had to cover your text books so they wouldn't get so torn up during the year? It's basically that, but cuter. Have fun!

What you need:

Some books. Scissors. Tape (if needed). Holiday wrapping paper, or any wrapping paper that goes with your theme. I even used some holiday paper grocery bags.

For each book, lay out some paper, put your book on top and measure how much paper you will need to cover it. Leave 1-2 inches excess paper off all edges. Then cut out your book cover piece.



Now that you have your cover piece, you'll need to fold over the top and botton edges of the cover just to match up the top-to-bottom length of your book, as shown below.


Then position your book so it's fairly centered on your paper. Fold the overlap of the front cover side of the book and make a crease. Then insert the book edge into the "pouch" created by the overlap paper. See image below. Repeat for the back cover. Use tape to secure any pieces of paper that just won't stay tucked.


Repeat for as many books as you see fitting! I covered all my books that weren't really Christmas colors :)

The brown paper is from a Trader Joes bag, btw.



Hope you enjoyed this little DIY!

4 comments:

diane said...

this is so cute! i love it.

i was always super geeky excited about covering my books for school, so this looks really fun to me.

thanks!

Raven said...

Crazy cute!

Anonymous said...

What a cute, easy, quick way to decorate. I love it! Thanks for sharing :)

flyawayonmyway said...

cute alyssa! i love it!