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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Board Books


Lily's favorite thing to do is to look at pictures of family.  Since not all of our family lives close, I decided to make board books with pictures of everyone and names for her to look at.  This is one of the only things that keeps her consistently quiet during church and entertained in the car.


First, I found board books to use.  You can use any old board books you find at your house or a thrift store.  I decided to purchase blank 5" x 5" square board books for this project here.  They were super cheap (only $1.30 per book) but there is a minimum purchase requirement of $25.

We have a huge family, so it took 6 books in all.
I designed the pages, cover, and spine in Microsoft Publisher.  I created a custom page size the size of the book and added color, text, and pictures to fill each page.

Since making this project, I have figured out a much easier way to design an adorable template for these books.  Go HERE to check out my suggestion.

Lily's middle and last name were blurred out in the picture above for privacy reasons.

Then I printed the pages out using the highest quality my printer allowed.  I cut each page to size using my paper cutter, leaving the corners angled instead of rounded like the board book.


 I glued each page on with glue stick, using an old insurance card to smooth each page to the book.  Any card would work, but make sure it's one you don't care about as it might get glue on it.


After the glue was dry, I tested the corners to make sure they were secure and added more glue if necessary.  Then I trimmed the corners from the back of each page to match the corners in the book.


 Once the pages were glued in and trimmed, I sprayed them generously with a clear coat of glossy finishing spray.  I let each page dry well before I turned the page to spray the next one.  Make sure to spray in a well ventilated area.

 After the inside pages of the books were sprayed, I glued on the binding for each book.  I made each binding 1 inch thicker than the book was.

After the bindings dried, I glued the front and back cover on to each book and trimmed each of the corners.  I sprayed with finishing spray generously and let dry.  Then I covered each cover with clear contact paper for extra durability.
Here are 4 of the 6 books I did for my little girl.  She LOVES them.
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49 comments:

  1. you never cease to amaze me.

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  2. These are awesome! I have been meaning to do something like this for Isaac for forever... just haven't gotten around to it. I am so impressed by your ability to get stuff done. You're amazing. Where'd you find the blank board books?

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    1. http://customboardbooks.pintsizeproductions.com/category

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  3. You are so crafty. It would take me forever to make one of these and it would probably involve a trip to the emergency room.

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  4. !!!

    These are so cool!! I'm totally going to make some for my kids. I have a couple little picture books (just in cheap plastic sleeves), but these look so much more durable. You are amazing.

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  5. Kathryn says:
    I am so excited about this blog. I love getting new ideas. We too, are in love with the Bean Museum. I have taken the kids there when I come to Utah to visit.

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  6. Such a great idea! I made one similar for my boys a couple of years ago {great to remember family who lives out of town} Thanks for sharing ~ please stop by and say hi sometime!

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  7. What a great tutorial. I am bookmarking this. I have been collecting various board books from sales, not to read but to alter.

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  8. great idea! love it! wish I had done this for my little one who is not so little anymore! thanks for sharing.

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  9. This is a great project. I saw you at Fantabulous Friday at MommasKindaCrafty.

    Today is my blog's first linky party. I would love for you to add this: http://koolbeenz-blog.blogspot.com/search/label/Funky%20Fresh%20Fridays.

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  10. This is so clever! I'm linking to it on my FB page! ;)

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  11. Great idea. Who wouldn't love a book of all the people who love them.

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  12. Thank you for joining the link party!

    This is a great idea and wonderful gift. I know my kids would love these books.

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  13. These are terrific, I might have to do this sometime, thank you for linking up to my link party also I'm following you know...cute blog.

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  14. What an amazing idea! I love it. This would make a great Christmas present for the youngest in our extended family. You could also use it to make so many different types of books.

    Thanks so much for sharing and for linking up at my Saturday Shindig linky party.

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  15. WOW! This is such a wonderful idea! I am going to bookmark and do this for sure. I shared it with my whole playgroup.

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  16. What a sweet idea! Cute little books... :)

    Tnx so much for linking this up at my party this weekend!

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  17. I love this! I can think of so many people to make this for! All my kids would just LOVE these!!! This is an awesome idea!

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  18. Wow, these are fantastic! My little one loves his books and looking at family pictures, so I'll have to remember this awesome idea! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  19. What a wonderful idea! My son loved board books when he was younger and always wanted to see pictures of our family and pets. I took a small brag book and made one for him, but this is such a better idea!!! LOVE IT!

    Thanks so much for sharing this in this week's Mingle Monday!

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  20. What a great idea!!! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

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  21. Fabulous. I will be trying this out for sure at some point. Thanks for sharing. I am now following your blog :)

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  22. We have more destroyed board books around here than I know what to do with! It never dawned on me to give them new life...

    GREAT idea!

    Thanks for linking up to Creative Juice!

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  23. This is a great idea! I need to make a few of these for my kids! Thanks for sharing this at Fantastic Friday, I hope you will join us again tomorrow!

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  24. Super cute idea! I could certainly use one of those customized books right now for my two-year-old granddaughter!

    Thanks for linking to the party. I would love to have you join me each week. Be sure to stop by tonight and see your project featured. By the way, I just joined you as a follower.

    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  25. How clever!!! What a fabulous idea!

    Thanks for linking this project up with For the Kids Fridays! I appreciate you stopping by, and hope to have you back for this week’s party! I’ll be posting it later tonight.

    :) rachel at SunScholars.blogspot.com

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  26. You have been featured on SSB! Please see the link below:

    http://superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/2011/04/mad-skills-monday-51.html

    I hope you'll visit again!!
    xoxo
    Ginger

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  27. These are great!! I think I'll need to make some for my little ones. Thanks for sharing them!
    Jenn

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  28. Thanks for the email. The funny thing is I had already found scheduled a post featuring these cute board books. Find the post at womenwhodoitall.blogspot.com.

    :) Jill

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  29. I love these! I'm currently working on something similar for my little guy. I had no idea that you can buy blank board books! Very clever!
    Found you through Sun Scholars.

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  30. FANTASTIC!! I am a new follower and I would love if you would like this up to Made by Little Hands Mondays!
    Have a great day!
    Michelle
    www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

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  31. These are so great! I'm sharing this post with my Facebook friends. Thanks so much for linking up at For the Kids at Sun Scholars!

    :)rachel

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  32. I love this! I want to make a few for my nephew, thanks for the tutorial

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  33. These are great, but does your child chew on the books? I'd be worried about mine doing that, and I'm nervous about the potential toxicity of the finishing spray...

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    1. they do make a finishing spray that is non toxic and modge podge is also non toxic. :0

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  34. My little girl never went through a chewing phase so to be honest that didn't cross my mind when coming up with this tutorial. I did use clear contact paper on the covers for extra protection. If you have a little muncher and are worried about the spray being toxic, try using clear contact paper on the whole thing.

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  35. really wish that shutterfly or somewhere offered these as an option.

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  36. these are awesome!!! I love them so much I have to try these for my girls

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  37. I did something similar as a baby shower gift for a friend. I used the Xeron laminator and sticker maker so the pages were gloss and all I head to do was stick the pages onto the board book. Great idea to make a photo album for kiddies!!

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  38. Thank you for sharing your wonderful books! I love the simplicity, which is so great for kids.

    I came here from the "Roadkill Rescue" site because this is such a great idea for our Linky Party too this week. The theme is 'Creative Final Resting Place Ideas' this time. I realize that you bought your board books new. This could certainly apply to any board books which might otherwise end up in a land fill.

    Would you like to add your post to our site? We're somewhat new yet getting good traffic already and ranking very well for the search engines.

    We'd love to host your 'link' there this week!

    Pam Hoffman
    http://conservationofeggs.blogspot.com/2011/10/3rd-conservation-linky-share-ways-that.html

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  39. Thank you for participating int he link party at: http://conservationofeggs.blogspot.com/2011/10/3rd-conservation-linky-share-ways-that.html

    I love the books. That gives me a great idea for my nephew's birthday party.

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  40. Okay...I'm hooked now...we're having a grandchild soon. Definitely doing this! Thanks for sharing. I'm your newest follower! xo

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  41. I'm so bookmarking this! I start a new job next week as a Toddler Teacher, and this could totally be an awesome thing I could make for each kid for Christmas!

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  42. Mine did not turn out as great as yours. My husband found it before it was dry and closed it tight so the glue is peeling on each page. The pictures are fine but you can see the sticky stuff coming off. I wish I was crafty.

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  43. I found your site a while back and bookmarked it. Yesterday I finally got my act together and did my first book. I wanted to ask – what kind of paper did you use for the books? I used photo paper but it seems a little thick. Also what kind of paper for the binding? And just in case you already know it - do you know the binding font size?

    I did everything through the scrapbooking software and it was great – now just putting it together might be more difficult.

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  44. This is wonderful, thanks for sharing

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  45. Oh I can't wait to do this!!! Thank you!! I love these books!! These will be perfect for the grandkids!! Thank you for the lesson!

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