Today, for Bookending Spring, we’re talking about up-cycling old books! Or basically, what can you do with books besides donate them. Don’t get me wrong–donating books is awesome. Other people can get the chance to read cools things. Schools, libraries, and other organizations can get books they desperately need. But sometimes? Sometimes you can make cool things with books!
Bookending Spring is an event created by Sam @ Fictionally Sam and Clo @ Book Dragons. They get a bunch of book bloggers together to create prompts for a season, and it’s been fun! Yesterday’s post was about audiobooks to listen to while spring cleaning. I’m creating prompts throughout the weekend, so stay tuned for some fun discussions!
Up-Cycling Old Books
Bookish Posters
The pages of books can make great canvases for some beautiful art! For example, when I was in college, I took a printmaking class and I did some of my prints on pages from a Harry Potter book. It can give your art a unique look, and makes for a fun afternoon craft project.
Book Flowers
Also in college, I was in an English honors organization, and one of the things that we did during Valentine’s day was sell book flowers. These can look great for any occasion that you might need flowers for. Here’s a great tutorial for making book flowers!
Keepsake Box
A bookish keepsake box can be a great way to hide treasures, right on your bookshelf! Most people probably won’t think about pulling a book off the shelf when looking for jewelry or the like. Plus, this can allow you to keep those beautiful books on your shelf while making it a handy storage container! This is a great tutorial for anyone looking to create their own box.
Spine Bookmarks
This is great for when your favorite books might be falling apart. You can keep a piece of the book with you always! As far as craft projects go, this one is pretty simple! Just cut the spine off an old book and put a hole in it, with a ribbon or other string of your choosing! More instructions can be seen here.
Book Purse
If you want to get even more complex with your bookish crafting, you can even make a neat little purse out of your book! Bonus: this way, you can even keep one of your favorite books with you at all times.
Kindle/Nook Cover
Fool everyone by hiding your e-reader in an actual book! This isn’t knocking on e-readers; they are so so useful. But it’s kind of fun to be sneaky with your reading! Maybe it will deter negative comments from onlookers as well.
If you’re like me and have an itch for crafting, use some of those books you’re getting rid of to create some fun crafts! What are your favorite things to do with old books?
Hi, these are fun ideas. I want to try making a keepsake box! It could be terrifying to cut into a book though. :))
Thank you! And yes! It sounds so cool, but always feels weird to hurt a book in some way.