Clearly, I have a problem. I need therapy. I love Halloween and everything about life from September on through to January. Right now, its nearly Halloween, so this is my jam! I have the EASIEST Spellbook project you will ever see. Seriously. Ready?

I have been saving cardboard boxes all summer, for reasons that are still unclear. I just knew I was going to be able to find a great project for them. When Karen and I started planning her Haunted Forest for this year’s event, I knew the witch area needed me. And that I needed some spell books.

For this project you will need:

1 box for each book
Strips of cardboard one inch longer than the box x2
Strips 1 inch wider than the box x2
Paper for the front and back cover, plus some for folding the edges
1 strip as deep as the box and as wide, for binding
Paint
Hot Glue
Elmers Spray Glue
Poly Clay (optional)
Spider Webbing (optional)
Mini Skeleton (optional)
Paint Pens

The perfect box

To begin, you need to select the best boxes you can find. I used 3 different sizes. My best advice is to find sturdy boxes (Amazon boxes are great, but some of them are a bit big) and the Training collar box was just a touch small, but all three together are fabulous.

For the strips, I used the edges of a pizza box, that is the tear away kind, and they are PERFECT. If you are not a pizza lover like I am, Cutting the strips in 2 inches wide and 1 inch longer than the box is. These form the “hardcover” of the book making it more realistic looking

Faux pages are easier then you think!

To create the look of pages, take your hot glue gun and slowly pull the trigger while slightly dragging along the edges of three sides. See photo above for reference. I like to squiggle the glue while I do it, to make the pages look old and weathered. After the glue dries, simply paint. Boom!

Making the flat, patterned spellbook:

I found the paper I liked (dark and creepy) and simply laid the paper over the box, with enough overhang to full wrap the underside of the edges of the hardcover. Using the Elmer’s Spray glue, spray the back of the paper and the front of the box and let dry 1 min. Smooth the paper starting in the center to push any bubbles out. Flip your spellbook over and spray the inside of the cover and let dry 1 min. Smooth and tuck the edges in, creating a uniform cover. Repeat on the back, overlapping the paper on the binding for a seamless look.

Next, using your hot glue gun, attach a mini skeleton to the front right side of the spellbook. Write Death Book on the front in large writing (with glue) and below that, spell out Hexes and Curses. When your glue is dry, use a gold paint pen and paint the hot glue. Done.

Making the larger Shapeshifting SpellBook

This spellbook is larger than our Death Book spellbook and therefore needs a different approach. For the cover, you are going to tear large chunks of paper (I used the back of cardstock, but brown paper bags will work fine and eliminate the need for much paint) and made them into balls by crinkling them. Do this a few times with each chunk. Flatten the paper and paint a mix of brown red and tan paint. After paint as fully dried, flip over and spray with Elmer’s spray glue, one at a time, letting them dry for one min each and smooth onto your spellbook.

The best place to start is at the edges of the cover, NOT the binding or the center. You want to make sure the edges are completely covered. To achieve the old book look you need to slightly overlap each piece of paper. Repeat steps on back. After the cover and edges are all the way covered in paper. you can cut a chunk of paper that is as wide as your binding needs to be. You will have to overlap the paper here as well because it’s just too big for one sheet.

This Spellbook Keeps getting creepier

I was going with a simple creepy look and found this as my inspiration. With bake to finish clay, create an eyeball shape, with a flat bottom for gluing to your spellbook later. Next using thin strips of clay, create the eyelid and surrounding skin. See photo above for reference. Bake in the oven at 275 per 1/4 inch of eyeball thickness.

After your eye has dried, paint it whatever your hearts desire. I used a mix of mostly tan and a few drops of red, followed by some green and gold paint. Allow to dry and attach to spellbook using hot glue. Write Shape Shifting and allow to dry. Paint raised letters with a paint pen and stretch spider webbing across the words and eyeball. Secure to spellbook using hot glue (just a dab on the corners.) Done!

Making the largest book of knowledge. 

This spellbook is the largest I made. Following the steps above, create your cover. Instead of painting your spellbook in shades of brown, this time you are going to paint the paper in different shades of purple. Alternatively, use different types of scrapbook paper in various shades of purple. After they are glued down, take a dry rough bristle paint brush and dip in a metallic gold along the edges of each separate paper, creating a quilted look. See above for reference.

Using your glue gun, write the book of knowledge in the same fashion as the other books. Paint the letters silver when the glue has dried. For the binding, you are going to use heavy cardstock in sparkly black. Hot glue down. Using your glue gun, run it along the edges of the binding on both sides of the spellbook, pooling it up a bit. When that is dry, paint silver as well. Done!

Final thoughts on the spellbooks!

This was one of the easier projects I have recently done with stunning and realistic results. I plan to use them year after year, and they are going to be easy to store in a tote in the offseason. I hope you enjoyed making your spellbooks. If you did, I would LOVE to see your version!

If you liked this, why not share it with your friends who love Halloween as much as you do? I created a pin just for your Pinterest Halloween Boards! Do you plan to make any of the crafts I have shown you how to make? Which one is your favorite?

Until next time,

Marlene

If you like this, you will love these:

 Unicorn Costume, an easy tutorial

Unicorn Crown for a pretty princess, a DIY

DIY Potion Bottles

DIY Halloween Decorations For The Time Pressed

The post Spellbook: A easy to finish tutorial appeared first on She's A Hot Mess.

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Spellbook: A easy to finish tutorial was first posted on October 19, 2017 at 8:00 am.
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