Wednesday, May 11, 2011

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!

7 comments:

Kevin and DeNiel said...

Very cute!

Kristy said...

Quite clever...we all need one!

Jessica Jo said...

Wow, for the one I made for a swap on craftster.org, I cut through all the pages and glued on the outside and insides. It went a lot faster, though I did use like 3 or 4 coats. I found that when I left some unglued (your 136 pages) it made it more obvious that it was a secret. I was also lucky enough to have a book that only had the title etc on the dust cover so when that came off, the book was completely naked. I got some rub on letters and made my own "title" consisting of the girl's name and stuff. Also, on the inside I didn't like leaving the bottom just the next page of it so I glued in a picture that fit the space, thereby personalizing it even more.

Wow, did that sound like I was telling you that you did it all wrong? I didn't mean to. I love your idea, and I love how you made it a "treasure chest" for your son!

Sara, Nick, and kids said...

That is the cutest thing I've ever seen! :)

MamaMay said...

Awesome post! Featured you! http://allawesomelinks.blogspot.com/2011/06/treasure-book.html

Unknown said...

Just found you through Totally Tutorials. I LOVE this idea and it's definitely going on my to-do list for the summer. I might even let my kids do the gluing ~ it'll keep them busy for awhile! ;)

Laura @ Come Together Kids

grammy and papi said...

What fun for your little pirate. I have four of those....they are grandpirates....think they might need some treasure chests also. Thank you for the tute.

Have a God Filled Day
Shirleu

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