If your recipient is a book lover why not create a gift that will please them and also provide them with some pleasant memories. Why not search for a book by a favorite author or a book about a place close to the recipient's heart. For example, choose a book about Paris for a Francophile or London for an Anglophile. And don't forget Italian cities. To find these books, search the internet or go scout out local second-hand bookstores or charity shops for an old edition (but not valuable) of a suitable hard-cover book and then recycle it into an interesting picture frame or into a fun desk clock.
This is a fun weekend project that may take a little patience. But then, your sweetie will appreciate it all the more.
Materials for Both Books
- Old hardback books
- One piece of thick cardboard
- One piece of thinner cardboard cut slightly smaller than book cover
- Double-sided tape
- Favorite photograph
- Pencil and eraser
- Straight-edge ruler
- X-acto utility knife (be sure the blade is sharp)
- Fine to medium sandpaper
- Gluestick
Book Frame Instructions
Remember: Don't use an original photograph; instead, scan or photocopy it onto photographic paper.
Use a book with an interesting cover and a favourite photo for this project. These book frames make nice gifts for family and friends, even work colleagures, and would make great holiday or birthday presents as well as a wonderful Valentine's Day surprise.
- Decide on the size and placement of the frame compartment.
- Center your photograph on the book cover and then use a straightedge to measure and mark a rectangle that's slightly smaller than the picture being framed so the edges are hidden.
- Lay a piece of thick cardboard behind the book's cover to protect the pages inside and use your X-acto utility knife and straight-edge ruler to cut out the marked hole.
- If the edges of the hole are rough, gently sand smooth.
- Tape the picture to the inside cover.
- Attach double-stick tape to the back of a piece of thin cardboard to back the photograph.
- Add a pretty ribbon and you’re done.
Book Clock Instructions
You can make two variations of this clock – one using the book’s front cover as the clock face; the other using an interior page as the face. If using an interior page for the face, glue cardboard to the back of that page to make it sturdy.
- Pick a desired center point for the clock’s face on book cover (or selected interior page) and drill a 3/8 of an inch hole.
- Use a pencil to mark the position of the drilled hole on the first page of the book (or selected interior page).
- Center the clock shaft on this mark and trace around clock casing on the page.
- Cutting slightly outside your traced outline, cut out about the five pages at a time using a straight edge ruler and X-acto utility knife.
- Continue cutting through pages until you have cut through one inch deep. You don’t have to glue the underside pages together for the clock.
- Insert clock shaft through the hole.
- Attach the minute and second hands to the shaft as per clock kit directions and insert AA battery.
