Fabric Covered Books & Washi Tape Bookmarks & Magnets

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I've written "2013" a few times now and I think it's finally sinking in that we're in a new year.  And I couldn't be happier to welcome it.  This weekend, I organized a few more parts of the house and just focused on getting over this lingering cold.  A few weeks ago, I was feeling the urge to do something crafty and found some coordinating fabric to wrap some old books with.  I adore how the project turned out and wanted to share it with you.

I did a few books in a bold fabric with pinks and oranges . . .

and another set in blues and aqua.  Since you don't need too much fabric for the book covers, it's a great way to use excess scrap fabric.

It only takes about 5 minutes to cover one book, so once I got going, it was hard to stop!  I even wrapped a hard-backed journal in my Grandma's favorite fabric and sent it to her as a gift.  

You'll just need a book, fabric, spray adhesive, and scissors (I used a rolling cutter).

1)  Cut your fabric about two inches larger than your book.

2)  Cut the corners off at an angle so you don't have too much excess fabric.

3)  Spray the back of the book with adhesive and fold over the fabric taking care to press out any bubbles and pull the fabric taut.

4)  Cut a strip of fabric where the spine of the book is.

5)  Cover the top and bottom of the book.  Repeat steps 3 and 5 with the front cover.

6)  Cut off some of the excess of the fabric at the spine.

7)  Use your scissors to press the extra fabric between the spine and the fabric covering the book.

8)  Here's how your spine looks with the fabric tucked in. 

* before and after *

* * * * * 

While I was at it, I made a couple of book tags, one with scrap paper and a couple with washi tape.

I used blank tags from from the craft store- they look like the picture below and come in different sizes. You can buy a bagful for just a couple of dollars.

My next easy craft will be these magnet covers I saw on Just Bella.  She actually used craft paper stuck to magnet strips- how cute!!  If you're new to Just Bella, head on over, she has a beautiful sense of style and a super sweet little baby!

via Just Bella