6 Cute DIY Book Decor Ideas Using Books From Dollar Tree

​​Today we are doing DIY book decor. I promise you're going to enjoy it. I’m using secondhand or cheap books, all non-vintage, to make a variety of beautiful decor pieces.

1. Fabric-covered photo journal

For the first one, I'm going to start with a plain book. I'm going to get some fabric and adhesive spray.

Opening the book with the pages down

I'm going to open my book and I'm going to put the pages face down. 

Sticking fabric to the book cover

I'm going to cut the fabric, making sure to leave some overhang. 


I'm going to put a heavy coat of that spray adhesive on the book. Then I'm going to grab a ruler and just really smooth that fabric down and into the bindings of our book. 


Now we need to fold in all of the edges of this fabric. 

Cutting the corners of the fabric

I'm going to cut the corners off of each tip, and that's going to allow us to fold our book in. 


I'm using hot glue to adhere to this. I'm going to go around the entire book and glue the trimmed edges down. 


For the binding of our book, we're going to cut some notches into our fabric at the top part of the binding and cut the excess fabric off. I'll hot glue the leftover fabric tab into the binding of the book. 

Sticking brown cardstock

To cover the inside, I'm going to use brown cardstock that I have, cut it with decorative scissors, and I will glue this into the center. 


I do the same thing to the front and the back. 


Now I'm going to cut the first three pages out. 

Making a book into a scrapbook

Next, I'm going to get some scrapbook paper, glue it down and add a picture of my daughter on top with little corner photo stickers.

DIY decorative books

The photo journal came out beautiful.


2. Flower holder

The second book DIY is super easy. I'm taking a pink Alice in Wonderland book and flowers I got from Walmart. 

Sticking flowers into the pages of the book

All you're going to do is stick the flowers into the pages of your book. 


Once I'm done sticking those flowers in there, I'm going to grab some twine. You want to tighten that as much as you can because when this book stands up, you do not want those flowers coming out of place. 

Tying the twine around the book

I am going to tie this tight in a knot first, and then I will just have a tiny little bow. 

DIY decor books

So pretty and easy to make.


3. Succulent centerpiece

For the next project, you're going to need a good book with a pretty cover, because the cover is going to show. 

Hot gluing the covers

We're going to hot glue the cover and then the back of the book to the pages. 


Next, I am taking some Mod Podge and I am going to put a good, healthy coat over our pages. We're going to let it dry.

Cutting out the center of a book with a box cutter

Now I'm going to take a little postcard, trace it out, and I am going to grab my box cutter, and we are just going to repeatedly cut until we get through that cover. 

Cutting out the pages

Once we get through the cover then we are going to start with the pages, and you are just going to keep cutting until you get to the depth you want. 

Hot gluing floral foam and Spanish moss

Now that I'm done with that, I'm going to hot glue some floral foam, and I'm going to glue Spanish moss in there. 

Book decor with succulents

Then, taking Dollar Tree succulents, I'm going to push them down into the foam. 


4. Knife holder

Next is another easy one. I'm just going to wrap some ribbon around vintage books. 

Tying ribbon around the books

I am going to go around the back and I'm going to tie it off in the back.


I'm just going to wrap that ribbon back around to give it a thicker look. Next, I'm going to use my finger bow and I'm going to put that off to the side. 

Hot gluing the bow

I'm going to put some hot glue on that bow then I am going to put my silicone spatula underneath the ribbon so that I don't get hot glue on the books. 

DIY knife holder out of books

Once the glue is dry, I stand the books up and place a knife in each one.

 

5. Stamped-covered books

Next, we are going to make some book covers with some craft paper. What I'm doing is just laying the book down and measuring it out. 

Wrapping books in craft paper

After we have those, I'm going to go ahead and wrap our books up in our craft paper. You don't have to glue anything. 

Placing the IOD butterfly stamp

Now I'm going to ink up my IOD butterfly stamp, and I am going to put that on my bookbinding.

Wrapping twine around the books

After I'm done with that, I'm going to take thin twine from the automotive section and wrap it around the books. I finish it off by tying it in a knot. 


Then I'm taking little butterfly wood cutouts from Dollar Tree, and I'm going to place them on the stamp color. Then I'm going to hot glue the butterfly on there. 

DIY stacked books decor

I love the simplicity of this piece. 


6. Trinket holder book

We are going to cut the inside pages out just as we did with the succulent project. We're just taking a healthy coat of Mod Podge, putting it all over those pages, and then I am going to use IOD silicone molds. 

Filling the mold with hot glue

I filled the mold with hot glue and let it dry.


I'm going to take a little template, and I'm going to trace it out onto my pages first. 

Cutting out the pages

I'm going to keep on cutting and cutting and cutting until I get to the depth that I want. 


Then I'm going to take scrapbook paper and some Mod Podge and lay that inside. I took some thick nautical rope from Dollar Tree to line the inside of my rectangle. 


Now we're going to pop out our mold. I'm going to take some Titebond glue, and I'm also going to take some hot glue. That way I just get that immediate hold on there and I can keep working. 

Placing the mold on the book

I'm going to place that down smack dab in the middle.

Painting the book

Next, I’ll paint the entire book by coating it in Nantucket Blue chalk paint by Folk Art. 


I am going to cover the front, the back, and the spine of the book with this. Now I'm going to coat the entire book with Mod Podge so we don't get it all scratched up. 

DIY book decor

Now we have ourselves the cutest little trinket holder.


DIY book decor

I hope you love these DIY book decor ideas. You can get your books at Dollar Tree for an inexpensive but beautiful project.


Speaking of books, what is your favorite book? Mine is Persuasion by Jane Austen. Let me know yours down in the comments.

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