A Sewing Box from an Old Book

This is the project I entered in the current challenge on Craftster:  Bookworms.  

Voting doesn't start until March 10th (just in case you want to vote for someone...!)

I found a tutorial to turn a book into a sewing box HERE and I knew it would be 

perfect for my partner in the Book Lover's swap, which I had just started organizing 

when this challenge was announced.  So she got a new sewing box, and I got 

something I could enter in this challenge!  Win-win!

It started with this big, thick volume of Shakespeare I found for $1 at my local library. 

(People donate old books and the library sells them to fund their programs.)

First I removed all the pages--it was actually very easy to do with an X-acto knife:  

just one cut along the inside of the spine at the front and the back, and they all came 

out together. The pages aren't used in this project, so I saved them for something in 

the future.

Then I glued book-themed scrapbook paper to the inside of the covers, 

sandwiching in some ribbon to tie the box closed.  I measured and cut balsa wood 

into the sizes I needed to make the compartments, and used a hot glue gun to hold 

them in place.

I glued more of the scrapbook paper to the outside of the balsa wood to give the 

box a finished look.

I painted the top edges of the wood with gold paint.  The pin cushion is a simple 

circle of fabric stuffed with poly-fill and glued into one of the compartments.  I made 

a matching needle book to complete the package.

The most time-consuming part of this was the planning and the gathering of 

supplies; I've never worked with balsa wood before and I didn't really know where 

to buy it! (I ended up finding it at Michael's; in the future I will probably look for it 

on-line.) I worked slowly since it was the first time I had done it, but now that I have 

the experience, I think I could complete my next box in under two hours.  I like the 

way it turned out, so I will probably do this again, either for myself or a future swap partner.

My Blog is a Book!

If you have a blog, you are probably aware that there is at least one place you can go online to have your blog content turned into a book.  I decided to give it a try, and I had all my blog posts from 2011 printed and bound so I could give the book to my mom, who doesn't use a computer.

I used Blog 2 Print after seeing one of their ads online.  The process was easy but pricey--it costs around $50 for one copy!  The price goes up if you choose a hard cover, or if you have a lot of pages.  I chose the soft cover and my number of pages was included in the basic price.  I searched online for a coupon, so I ended up paying only $45.  I wouldn't have done it for myself, but I want to be able to share my blog with my mother, and this seemed like a great way to do that.

The front cover (above) doesn't please me as much as the back cover (below).  The small image I saw on the website as I chose the background for the covers didn't help me that much!  I would have used a picture with a dark background for the front cover if I had known better.  They offer a lot of different cover colors and designs, so if I ever decide to do this again I will choose my cover photos to coordinate better with the cover.

Here's a glimpse at the inside pages.  I chose the space-saving option of having the text run along the side of the pictures.  Although it is different than the actual layout of my blog, I think it looks fine, and it kept me below the number of pages that would have cost more!

Everything in all of my posts is included, but the reader comments are not.  That's too bad, because the comments add a lot!

If I do this again, I think I will pay the extra $10 for the hard cover.  After paying $45, I want my book to last!

I'm on my way to Little Rock, Arkansas this weekend for the Craft Gossip Fork and Talk event; conveniently enough, that's where my mother lives, so I will be visiting her and giving her this book!  (Of course, my mom is the real reason I travel to Arkansas regularly; it is a great bonus that I can schedule my trip to coincide with this blogger's meet-up.)   I will post again on Tuesday; see you then!