Book Safe

Book Safe is a fun craft to do and makes a great gift or just use it yourself to store treasured items, keep pizza delivery money handy, or use it as a place to keep your jewelry dust-free. Go to any local thrift store and pick up a book for a few dollars. The best book I have found is Readers Digest hardback. All the other items you will probably find in your home.

• Any hardback book such as Readers Digest what ever size you would like
• Parchment Paper or Wax Paper
• Ruler
• Box Cutter
• Scissors
• Pen or Pencil
• Clamps
• Glue
• Paintbrush

You can make your Book Safe as large or as small as you would like for it to be.

Open your book to about page 20. On the left side, clamp those pages down so they will out of your way.

It is very important to keep the spine of your book straight and even or your cut will be on a slant.

On the right side of your book, with the ruler and pen, mark off the area you want to cut out. I left one inch on all sides marking it off with a pen. Place your ruler along the pen line, hold the ruler tightly while taking the box cutter in your other hand, cutting as deep as possible all the way around your line, moving the ruler with each cut.

Remove the cut-out portion of the page. You may need to trim it up with scissors to finish the cut. Save the discarded cutouts for a future project.

As you cut deeper into the right side, continue to clamp the cut-out pages to the left to keep it out of your way. Makes it much easier to work.

You can continue to use your ruler to mark off the next section to cut or use the last section you cut as a guide. Lay the last section back down on the right side and hold the book straight and even, use your pen to mark off the next portion to cut out. Move the cut section back to the left side, clamp it down. Using your ruler to guide the box cutter straight, start on the next section of the book until you are happy with the size of your hide hole. You can make this shallow or deep.

Adding glue to these pages will keep them secure and form a nice strong hole.

Return all the cut pages to the right side when you are happy with the depth of your hole.

Clamp the cut pages down on the right side making sure the book spine is even.

Squeeze glue in the hole and spread it around with a paintbrush. Coat the entire hole well with glue.

Take a piece of wax paper or parchment paper covering the entire page of the cut-out hole.

Close the book leaving the wax paper in place. Weight the book down making sure again the spine is straight and pages are even, while the glue is drying.

Give your book 18 to 24 hours to completely dry. Remove the wax paper. As you hold the book in the air grasping the left side you can see that a perfect cubby hole has been formed. Laying it on a flat surface it will lay completely flat.

One book I lined with felt material and added a magnet to hold close. You can use any fabric you would like to use. To line your Book Safe, just simply measure each side of the hole. Then measure for depth. The Book Safe I made measures: 5" X 2 7/8" X 1" deep. The bigger the book, the bigger the Book Safe can be.

Do a dry run first. Put the felt in the Book Safe hole to be sure it will fit properly. Once you are satisfied with your measurements you are ready to proceed.

Lay your felt out right side down (if you use a fabric that has a right and wrong side). I use an old piece of cardboard so I don't get glue on my craft table.

Start with the bottom piece of felt. That way you won't get the glue off the side pieces.

Spread a light coating of glue all over the piece of felt you are working with. Place that piece of felt in the Book Safe hole where it belongs. Press each piece against the Book Safe wall as you go. Once you have placed all the felt in the Book Safe hole, place the wax paper back over the hole and close the book. Always weigh the book down with a straight spine and even pages.

Once your glue has dried you are ready to start using or wrapping it as a gift.

FYI: The book with the red felt in the above picture is a 1988 Readers Digest that I turned into a Book Safe back in 1992. They will last a very long time if they are used properly.