True Blue Me & You: I'll Try Not to Waste Our Time

truebluemeandyou: DIY Mini Book Necklaces with Charms. Posted this way way back. Still my favorite little book tutorial ever.

DIY Mini Book Necklaces with Charms. I have posted 3 or 4 mini book jewelry tutorials and I keep saying, “Oh, this is the best one.” But this is my favorite. Clear instructions, love the grommet closures tied with leather, love the keyhole. For the tutorial and other ideas go to Art by Wendy here. I got a GC to Michaels and will get a crop-a-dile using coupons of course.

DIY Recycled Altered Book with a Message Tutorial. “Your Life is a Story Make it Good” If you’re not crafty enough to carve out elaborate scenes from books (like me), and want to make something other than a book vault to hold/hide valuables, this is a really good tutorial from Cosmo Cricket here.

DIY Recycled Book into a Sketch Book. Love everything about this. Tutorial from Cosmo Cricket here. *We are having a huge used book sale this weekend (for the League of Women Voters), and a bag of books will be $3 Sunday afternoon. So look online and see where the used book sales for charities/organizations are near you!

DIY Glass Tile Pendants with Insurgent and Divergent Book Covers and Charms. Free printable book covers at the link. Really good tutorial from Rae Gun Ramblings here.

DIY Altered Book Monogram. I normally don’t post things that require a band saw, but loved this project. Lots of people are using Reader’s Digest Condensed Versions of books because they are everywhere, at thrift stores and thick with good covers. Tutorial from Ashbee Designs here. *Also, if you feel guilty defacing books, I asked my mom what The League of Women Voters did with their books that didn’t sell after their huge annual book sale here.

rainbowsandunicornscrafts:

DIY Children’s Book Clock. You can use anything to make a clock with a cheap clock kit: white board, canvas, hat, tin lid etc… Photo Left: Instrucables tutorial here, Photo Right: Country Living Tutorial here.

DIY Book Page Origami Butterfly. Tutorial from Todolwen here.

unconsumption:

More creative new uses for old books:

Make book cover headboards.

Materials include book covers, glue, and a piece of wood or something else to use as backing. 

How-to / DIY details: Instructables

Note: If you’ve got books you no longer want, but think could be of interest to other readers, consider selling them or giving them away instead of using them as raw material for projects!

Truebluemeandyou: A hint for using Instructables. The site can be annoying if you don’t have a pro membership but it seems to allow you to scroll down and click on ALL STEPS a few times so you aren’t hitting the NEXT BUTTON forever. Also, if you feel guilty defacing books, I asked my mom what The League of Women Voters did with their books that didn’t sell after their huge annual book sale here.

Eight Cheap DIY Jewelry Tutorials Using Mod Podge. feeltherainbows asked me about jewelry tutorials that use Mod Podge (and not Mod Podge Dimensional Magic). The beauty about most of these tutorials is that they use lots of recycled, inexpensive or easy to find materials.

1. DIY Paper Mache Bracelet here. *cardboard tube or cereal box, magazines, jewelry findings
2. DIY Personal Paper Heart Necklace here. *maps, song paper, recycled paper, jewelry findings
3. DIY Scrap Paper Bracelet here. *scrap paper, ink, jewelry findings
4. DIY Kate Spade Inspired New York City Lights Bangle Bracelet here. *Empty ribbon spool or cardboard tube, paper, paint
5. DIY Paper Rings Inspired by Jeremy May of Littlefly here. *paper, varnish (but you could use clear nail polish
6. DIY Teeny Tiny Leather Spell Book here. *gold paint or sharpies, paper, cardboard, jewelry findings
7. DIY Paper Bead Jewelry here. *paper, glue, nail polish or varnish
8. DIY Book Page Necklace here. *paper, varnish (but you could use mod podge instead), jewelry findings

Nine DIY Bookcover Roundup. Two aren’t DIYs but there are tutorials out there that show you how to DIY them. All the links at Lemon Jitters here (and #1 has the best basic how-to make a book cover, then goes on the show you more ideas).

DIY Book Page Bracelet from The Hunger Games. Another beginners’ DIY inexpensive jewelry  project. Everyone is scanning or copying the pages from books for these projects and using the cheap glass stones from The Dollar Store. Photo  from Happy Hour Projects here. Original bracelet tutorial here. *This blog has a lot of really good beginner projects.

DIY Bookpage Necklace. Really good for people new to DIY jewelry because the instructions on how to make the charm are detailed. Tutorial at Happy Hour Projects here.

DIY Personal Paper Heart Necklace. Love this idea - 2 sisters exchanging gifts - paper hearts with maps where the sister lives, song lyrics, dictionary definitions. Really personal yet cheap and easy to make. Tutorial from Creative Passage here.

DIY Inspiration Face Shelving. Designed by Alexi Mccarthy and done as a father/son project. “The idea is that depending what you put in or on the shelves, you create different faces and expressions.” 

DIY Roundup of Book Clutches. Can’t afford the Kate Spade or Olympia Le Tan book clutches? Thanks, I Made It has 4 different approaches - something for everyone - at her blog here.