Hollowed Out Stack of Paper

This is a cool hollowed out stack of papers. It looks official, yet its really just a hollow storage container made from paper. It closes magnetically for durability. It is a great way to hide your important valuables in plain sight!!! Or quckily tuck away your iPod/iPhone before someone enters the room!!  You can even put a microphone in there and secretly record conversations with friends. This is a one of a kind official looking piece of creativity!

For this phony stack of papers you will need:

Mod Podge (Paper - Matte)
A paintbrush
A stack of paper (about an inch tall)
An X-ACTO knife
A drill or drill press
8 round rare earth magnets (3/8in. diameter)
A drill bit with the same diameter as the magnets (3/8in. diameter)
A ruler
A piece of wood (about 4in. x 4in. x0.5in.)
Glue

NOT SHOWN IN PHOTO:
A pencil
Tape
Wax paper
An adhesive roller
Colored sticky notes

Start by removing 30 sheets of paper from your stack of papers. (This way you will have 15 to cover the top and 15 to cover the bottom when you are finished.) Once you have removed 30 sheets, you need to use a pencil to draw the shape and size of your hole. Then you need to start cutting. Use your X-ACTO knife to cut out the pencil-marked area. You will need to continue to do this until you cut all the way through. (You may want a cutting board so that you do not damage the surface you are cutting on.) There will be a lot of layers to cut through, but take your time and try to keep the hole the same size the further down you cut. This step does require a lot of patience.

Once you have finished cutting, you need to separate the stack of cut papers into 2 halves. Also, separate the stack of uncut papers (the 30 sheet stack) into 2 halves (15 sheets each). Now place each half of the cut paper stack onto each pile of the uncut papers (the two 15-sheet stacks). Now you should have just 2 piles with 15 uncut sheets of paper underneath them.

Now you will have use a paintbrush and some Mod Podge to make the 2 stacks solid so they do not come apart. To do this you will need to dip your paintbrush in the Mod Podge and paint a thin coat around the outer and inner edges of both of the stacks. Paint 2 coats, (let the first coat dry for 10 min. before applying the next coat). Be sure to fill in all of the grooves.

Let them dry.

Next, after the Mod Podge has dried, you will drill four holes in the corners of each stack of paper as seen in the photos.

To do this efficiently, you will need to take a piece of any kind of tape and stick it around the drill as a visual guide. Place it accordingly, so that when the tape hits the wood, you know it's time to stop drilling. You will want to drill completely through the wood, but only half way through the paper. The wood keeps the paper from shredding and tearing while you drill; that is why you will need to put the wood on top of every corner you drill a hole in.

The four holes that you will drill in the four corners of each paper stack should be an inch in from the edges of the paper.

After you complete drilling the holes, put the two paper segments together to see that the interior hollowed out portion lines up. You do not want to glue the magnets into the holes until the insides are lined up. With that in mind, then glue the magnets into each of the eight holes. Be very careful that when you close the paper together the magnets do not repel. If they do, just turn them upside down and put them back in their holes. To make sure everything lines up properly you should use colored sticky notes or sticky strips as guides to visually assure yourself that the hollowed out portion is lining up properly. I put a blue and orange sticky strip on each half to that I know when they close the orange should be line up with orange and the blue lined up with blue.

For a finishing touch, you can use your adhesive roller to make the top of one of the halves sticky enough to attach an important looking paper on top. This way it actually looks like a pile of important papers!

If you can't find a paper that you would like to go on top, you can make one on a computer or you can use the one I used by downloading and printing the PDF found in this step.