Hey guys! Today I have a craft project for you that is partially inspired by
Karen Kavett’s DIY Book Necklace video on the Wonderly Channel, and also partially by my desire to do something to show my love for
Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. Fangirl was just SO GOOD that when I finished it, all I could think about was doing a craft inspired by it so other people would know they could talk to me about it.
I played around with a few ideas, but kept coming back to Karen’s adorable necklace. So I decided to try her technique for a pair of earrings. Karen's original necklace was much more involved- actually binding together pages and so on, which turned out BEAUTIFUL, but this is a much simpler version.
For the majority of the book, I used old business cards because I just ordered new ones and am trying to work through my old ones. If you don’t have any business cards to use, I’d recommend cardstock or any other heavyweight paper, but not as heavy as cardboard.
Other than that, you’re going to need earring wire, jump rings, some basic craft tools (pliers, ruler, X-acto knife, glue stick & hot glue gun) and a printed out, scale copy of the book cover you want to use.
My first step was to cut my pages out of business cards. I measured my mini book cover and came up with 1.75 cm x 2.25 cm, but yours may vary, so double check before you start cutting. I cut out 10 for each earring- again, based on the size of the spine on my cover, so play around with it.
Step two is to put the cover together. Cut out a tiny scale replica of the full dust jacket, including the inside flaps. I actually had to scan and piece together my cover, but there are tons online if you are doing a different book. Using your regular glue stick, glue the cover to another business card and cut it out.
(Don’t forget you’re going to need two of these if you’re making earrings)
Flip that over, and score on the back where your folds should be to make it easier to construct. Then, press your folds and use the side of a pencil or a spoon to really make the folds crisp.
Once your cover is all folded up and looks how you want it to, you can put that aside and turn your attention back to the pages.
Since my book is going to be so small, I wasn’t concerned about it being open and being able to see pages. I took my glue stick and just made a stack of my little cut out pages. This was probably the most time consuming part of the whole project, but it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes to glue together two tiny stacks of pages. Set those aside to dry thoroughly.
While you’re waiting, use the tip of an X-acto knife to poke a hole near the top of the spine where you want your earrings to dangle from, and then use pliers to insert a jump ring. By the time both are done, your pages should be dry.
To insert the pages into the book, start by hot gluing the little stack directly to the inside spine/middle of the cover. Hold the pages upright for a few seconds to let them set. Then do the front and back, one at a time pressing and holding before moving on. Let that dry completely cool before adding the earring wire to the jump rings.
Once you’ve got the earring wire on, you’re done! You could, instead of the earring wire, also just slip it onto a necklace chain, put it on a keyring, make a ton of them and hang them from a bookshelf… Oh man, so many ideas for this project!
I wanna know- what book would you be most likely to wear as an accessory? Let me know here, or on twitter @techni_moments! And, as always, if you do this project, I wanna see it!
Good luck, &stay crafty :)
PS: Video tutorial is
here, if you’d prefer!
I played around with a few ideas, but kept coming back to Karen’s adorable necklace. So I decided to try her technique for a pair of earrings. Karen's original necklace was much more involved- actually binding together pages and so on, which turned out BEAUTIFUL, but this is a much simpler version.
You’re going to need a piece of cardboard cut to the size that you want your finished project to be. I cut a piece out of a box that I got in the mail recently. You’ll also need the fabric you want to use, some fleece or batting, ribbon, buttons and a hot glue gun & glue sticks. 
Once that’s done, you’re going to do the exact same thing with the fabric. I highly recommend using a fun or funky fabric in this project, because then it can be a conversation piece, or show off your personal style. For my craft room memo board, I picked a fabric with crafty pieces all over it. 
I did this by measuring out all of the ribbons before gluing any of them down. I used four in each direction but you can do more or less than that. It really depends on the size of your finished board.
All you need for this is some fabric, and a zipper. This is a great stash busting project because you need less than 1/4 of a yard each of an outer fabric & a lining. You’ll also need pins & sewing goodies, but other than that, it’s just the fabric & a zip. 
Now you’re going to open up the pencil case so that the outer fabrics are right side together & the linings are also, with the zipper in between them.
The end! You’re done! It’s super easy, and it’s totally done. You could totally hand sew this or use a no sew alternative, but it's only a few simple stitches.
For
this project, you need some magazines to cut up. You can also use
other pictures, cutouts, stickers, etc, but magazines are fun to cut
up. You also need some Mod Podge (I like using the one specifically
for paper), and a foam brush.
If
you plan to cover the whole box, draw a line around where the lid
goes. You don’t want to put any pictures under the lid because you
won’t see them anyway, and also it’ll make the lid hard to get on
and off.
You
want to put a thin THIN layer of Mod Podge on the back of each piece
of paper, and stick it down, trying to work in small sections at a
time. Make sure you’re overlapping and covering the top and sides
of the lid, plus whatever of the box you want to do.
The
final step is to take your Mod Podge and brush and put 2-3 thin
layers of Mod Podge over the whole thing. Let each layer dry for
about 10-15 minutes before adding the next and be extra sure you’re
using only a very thin layer. Too much gooping will lead to bubbles
in your images- definitely not what you want!
Using the ripped off pocket as a guide, trace the pocket
(including the folded under hem onto the fabric you’re using. You really only
need a small scrap of fabric for this project. I dug into my scrap bin for this
one. Make sure you add a seam allowance to the top of the pocket since you
probably won’t be able to unfold that edge. 
Using your fabric glue, fold down all of the edges so that
you have a finished pocket without any fraying or unraveling. Just add a line
of glue, fold down and press securely. Once it’s finished, you’ll want to let the pocket dry for
about 5-10 minutes before you put it onto the shorts. It doesn’t need to be
completely dry to move on, but you don’t want it to be runny anymore.
After you’ve waited about 5-10 minutes, go ahead and put it
on the shorts. There will probably be a color difference from where the pocket
was, due to fading from light , so just use that as guide
to line up the pocket. Using your fabric glue, go around both sides and the
bottom and press firmly. Don’t forget to leave the top open so you can actually
use your pocket! 
