book box

my kids still think i can do anything.   usually, that's fine.   sometimes, it gets me volunteered for things.   

today, my daughter's class is going to the library for the last time this school year.   one of the ladies at the library reads to them quite a bit, so they are bringing  her thank you cards.   my daughter pipes up, "can i bring her cookies?".   we still need to work on the whole, "ask mom before you volunteer her" thing.   of course, i still volunteer my mom and grandmother for things and they volunteer me, so i don't think it's going to end any time soon.   

 i also come from a family of crafty, over achievers so i can't just send a plain old bag of cookies.  giving cookies requires presentation.   cookies need a great cookies box!   the book lady gets a book box.  

 i thought about gluing a book together and cutting the center of the pages out.   i don't think i have the time, stuff,  or patience.   there's also this little problem i have with cutting up books.   i'm trying to resolve these conflicting issues within my troubled soul, my love of books and my love of crafts.   can i destroy one thing to make something else?!   will it have more value the way it is or the way it will become?!   what kind of person destroys something so wonderful as a book?!   what kind of person keeps a book that no one wants just because she can't throw it away?!    yes, it's a really dark tormented world i live in.   i decided to go with a box instead.

simple design, nothing new.  might want to start with gluing the box back together, unless your lucky enough to have a box that opens like a book, which i didn't.   yeah for hot glue!   after you get it all glued back together, cut it open.   isn't that the way life goes?   fix it, take it apart, close it, open it, yada, yada, yada. . . 

now that you have your box all primed and ready to take on new life, lay it on a piece of cardboard and mark it a little bigger than the box.   it needs to be long enough to go around 3 sides and hang over a bit all the way around.   i cut it so that the corrugations went with the corners i need to fold.

cutting out a piece of cardboard can be tricky so i suggest you get some awesome help like i had.   this is roka holding my cardboard still while i cut.   yes, i'm a lucky woman to have so much help, persistent, jump right into the middle of things, self-starting, self directing, volunteer help.       after i got the help moved off of the cardboard so i could finish cutting it without removing a tail, i broke the middle of the cardboard down a bit so it would wrap around the back for the spine of the book. 

fortunately, the help didn't like the smell of the glue.   this part i had to manage on my own.   use regular school glue to glue white paper on the outside of the box for the pages of the book.   i brought it up the side and in so i could cover the inside of the box as well.   that can in the background is actually there to hold the box and paper together while the glue sets.   i am such a genius!   that's as close as i'm going to get so i'm celebrating it.   

next, i covered the cardboard with paper.   i started the outside back of the book, and brought the paper up and around the edges.    the paper came up and around the spine of the book as well.   that worked out nicely.   i love it when things cooperate.   

before i covered the front of the book i hot glued the cardboard to the box.   this way i could just fold the paper on the inside of the front cover, wrap around the edges and then glue the front on and wrap around the edges.   it turned out with a really nice look that way.   i was impressed with myself, especially at 11 o'clock at night.

  i added some details with a lighter color paper and drew a few lines on the white for pages.    it turned out pretty well.   i think i'll do one with fabric next.

yeah, the best part is probably the cookies.