Old books make a great addition to spooky Halloween vignettes, don’t you think? I picked up a pile of books at my local thrift store to work into my table decorations for the party. I chose books with Halloween appropriate titles and dark covers and turned them into Spooky Spell Books.
(This post contains affiliate links. For my complete disclosure, go HERE. )
If you’re working with books you already own you can always paint them black, but I was going for fast and easy – so I only bought black. If you can’t find any that are decrepit enough, it’s easy to “age” them a bit with a Dremel.
The sanding attachment made quick work of the project. I ran the Dremel over all the edges for a few seconds to mimic a well-worn book.
One word of caution – this is MESSY. You will have book guts everywhere, so try to do it outside if it’s all possible.
Much better…I really like the vintage-y vibe.
I tied some twine and bits of feather around a few of them.
I found some awesome free printables on Pinterest, so I decided to make a couple spell books while I was at it. These potion recipe pages came from G-Rated:
I printed them out on parchment paper and attached them to the middle of a book with ModPodge. I distressed the outside with the Dremel, then I aged the pages by misting them with water and using the blow dryer on them for a minute or two. The water makes the edges wavy and old looking.
Next, I borrowed the cookbook easel from my kitchen and added a bright red satin ribbon and shiny Red Delicious apple on a silver candle holder.
My last book project was inspired by the free printables I found on Craftaholics Anonymous:
The only tricky thing about making this spell book is finding a book that is close to the size of the printables.
Once I managed that, it was easy. I used ModPodge to attach the printables, and after it was dry I used the Dremel to go over the edges very lightly. I also used it to take the divot out of the front cover. My pages were really white, so I watered down some brown paint to make them look older.
I think it looks pretty legit! Big thanks to Amy at Craftaholics Anonymous for her adorable design.
If you’re lucky enough to have a stash of books you don’t care about, all three projects are almost free to make…and if you pick them up second hand they will cost you just a buck or two.
Another fast, easy and cheap Halloween project in the books…no pun intended. 🙂
I’m linking my Spooky Spell Books up at some terrific blog parties – you can find my complete list of places I party HERE.
