Treausure box book...

If you enter my green boy's room on any given day...you would see lots of different things: cars, legos, capes, blocks, and well...just about anything.

But today you might find something completely out of place.
Can YOU find it?

See there between Dr. Seuss and "How Do I Love You"?

Yes, it's a cook book.
No, my son does not cook...much to my chagrin.

It is a beautiful vintage cook book.

A $1 cook book. 

I'm so sorry Mrs. Ipincott, but your freezer techniques just don't hold up today so we turned your book into something MUCH more useful!

A Treasure Box Book

We have LOTS of pirates living at our house. 

I've gained a greater insight into a pirate's life while caring for these "matees" and in doing so I've learned that a good pirate needs a hook, a well practiced "arrgh" and...well, a great treasure chest! 

What's better than a great treasure chest?
A well camouflaged treasure chest!

and I'm going to show you how we created ours...

Supplies

1 fairly thick book -
(hit up your local thrift store if you don't have one you want to sacrifice for the cause.)

x-acto knife
a ruler
glue

I grabbed my book...turned 136 pages into the book...

and measured a rectangle 6.5 inches by 4 inches centered in the middle of the page.

Then, I started cutting...

and cutting...

and cutting.
I cut over 300 pages...if you push hard enough you'd be surprised at how many pages an x-acto knife can eliminate at once!
(starting from the first step until the completion of your page cutting I used 24 min.)

Your timing will depend on how thick your book is and how sharp your knife is...mine was pretty blunt.

Then my green boy handed me his blue Elmer's glue and I started the most time consuming part.

I just glued, glued and glued.
Leave your first 136ish pages unglued to throw off any unsuspecting pirate...
you want them to think this is just any ole' book.

Then close your book to seal the pages you've just glued together.

Open it back up and glue and close some more until you are finished.

Make sure you wipe the outside of your pages clean if any of your glue squeezes out on the sides.

You will get into a rhythm once you get going.
(I used 40 minutes to glue)

I wanted the outside of the book to still look untouched so I decided to take the extra time to glue each page. 

If you want a less time consuming version, you can paint a coat of glue or a modge podge type product on the outside of the cut pages to seal them together.

That's it. Now, let it dry, fill it with treasures, put it on the shelf and you have yourself...
or your pirate...
a VERY well camouflaged treasure box book!
(in 64 minutes)
 

Someone will be VERY surprised to open it and find treasures instead of recipes!

Have fun! Arrgh!

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