New DIY Craft Project: How to Make a Book Picture Frame

A guest post by Lauren of Lauren Elise Crafted.

I love vintage books and have started a small collection of them. But books can take up a lot of space so I have been exploring ways to incorporate my collection into my décor without cluttering up my life (too much that is!). I realize that what I like about these old books is not necessarily the printed word within them and that usually I find random titles from antique stores that I can hardly imagine anyone reading. But the book covers themselves have fabulous textures, fonts, and prints so that is what I focused on for this DIY. I transformed the covers into picture frames to highlight some of my favorite black and white photos of family members. And it helped clear up some of my shelves in the process.

Materials: 1. Vintage books that you dont mind cutting up  2. Photographs  3. Metal-edge ruler  4. X-acto knife  5. Pencil  6. Firmer chisel or a similar wedge tool  7. Tacky glue  8. Binder clips  9. Masking tape

Step by Step How To: 1. Cut out the pages of the book, leaving just the cover. 2. On the back of the cover, outline where you want to place the picture. 3. Run your x-acto knife over the outline but do not cut all the way through. You want to leave the book cloth intact. Use the firmer chisel to pry away the chipboard part of the cover. 4. Once all the chipboard is removed, create a new outline, 3/8″ inward from the first. Cut out that outline. 5. Glue the 3/8″ tabs and fold over. Hold in place with binder clips and let dry. 6. Secure your picture onto a piece of cardstock and then use masking tape to hold the picture in place over the frame. You can glue the picture into place as well but the masking tape will allows you to change it in the future.

About Lauren: Lauren Elise is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California, School of Architecture. And she loves all things crafty, homemade, and vintage. You can see more of her crafty world on her blog, Lauren Elise Crafted, and her handmade goodies on Etsy at L. Elise Crafted for more.

For more ideas for quick and easy projects, click here to visit the craft tutorials and diy page  filled with more than 60 diys. If you like this diy project, please help me spread the word by using the twitter and facebook buttons below. Thank you so much.