Vintage Is In! Vintage Book Secret Treasure Box

I have a deep love for books — especially old books.  I’ve been known to spend hours browsing through second hand book stores. There’s something about the feel and smell of an old book, that transports me to another time.  I wonder how many hands before me have held the book and what their life was like. 

It looks like my love for old books as passed to my daughter Cossie (4).  Often, she gazes at the bookshelf. Sometimes she ask to ”just hold” the books;  “Mum, I’ll be very, very careful,” she says in a voice filled with awe. So today, I stopped at a thrift shop and picked out some pretty coloured old books — especially for her.  And now for the craft.

Vintage Book Treasure Box

You will need:

* Pen knife or Stanley knife

* Thin cutting board

* Vintage book (I purcahsed four books for $4)

* Ribbon

* Craft Glue

Step 1: Give a minute of silence for the author of the book because what you are about to do will rip their heart out if they knew.

Step 2: Right, that done — move on and don’t look back. Find a rectangle object to use as a template (like a small card). It should be small enough to fit on the page with at least a 2cm margin to each side.

Step 3: Turn about 20 pages and place the rectangle template on the centre of the page. 

Step 4: You will need to cut around the template but work in small batches.  To do this, place a thin cutting board down about 10 pages and press hard with the pen knife till the insert pops out.

Step 5: Work your way down the book until you are at the end.  This step will take about 20 minutes.  Don’t worry about being too neat.

Step 6: Once you have the secret compartment, thread ribbon through the entire cut out section and tie a bow (or two if you like).

Step 7: Glue the bottom page down to provide a sealed box. 

Step 8: Allow your child to colour a special drawing on the botttom of the secret compartment.

Step 9: Don’t throw out the middle pages.  I’ll show you (in another post) what to do with the left-over paper.

Note: Boys love secrets too.  To make the Vintage Book Treasure Box for boys, use leather or string instead of ribbon.

Other ways to use vintage books:

 Vintage weddings.  Use the Vintage Book Treasure Box craft in the colour of your wedding.  Make the hole in the centre smaller and thread both wedding rings on the ribbon before tieing it up in a bow. Ask your photographer to use some vintage books in your photoshoot or have them as a centrepiece at the reception.

 Men: If you give your girl a letter or jewellrey in the Vintage Book Treasure Box, you will get A LOT of brownie points.

 Feature Object: If you don’t want to cut a book, just tie a ribbon around pile of vintage books for a stunning feature object.

 Colour Scheme: Use vintage books as the colour scheme guide for a room.  There are so many beautiful but subtle vintage book covers.  Most specialised paint shops can match colours to an object. I chose these colours: beige, green, blue, red.

 Nursery Decoration: Vintage books look absolutely stunning on a nursery shelf or in a child’s bedroom.

Vintage is in!

Be A Fun Mum related links:

Vintage Paper Hanging Lantern

Theme It: Vintage

Tagged as: craft, Gift, Ribbon, Treasure Box, Vintage Book, Vintage Wedding, Wedding