Quote books using upcycled children’s board books

This will be my first in a series for this category – over time, I’ve discovered children’s board books can be used in a variety of ways.

In case you’re unfamiliar with a board book, I’m referring to those first books for toddlers where the “pages” are composed of thick cardboard.

I buy mine from the thrift store – a bag of the smallest size books usually costs about $2 and larger books may be individually priced with the normal children’s books. You can probably find more from other local sources (or in your own house) but I find the thrift store the most convenient.

Using board books can take a few extra supplies and some planning. You will need:

Fine sandpaper
Crafting primer (i.e., gesso)

First: Unless the books are VERY well used, it’s best to lightly remove the shiny top layer of each page and the covers with a piece of sandpaper. The goal is not to remove the entire background design, just rough the page up a little.

Next: Lightly cover each page in a crafting primer, usually called gesso. Gesso is typically white but can be found in other colors, including red, gray and black. Don’t worry too much about getting into the spine/crack of the book. Let dry.

Your book is now ready to take just about any craft supply you can think to use. Since the pages are primed, you can try out markers, watercolors, paint, colored pencil, wax crayon, etc. You can use rub-ons, stickers, stencils, and stamped images. You can also glue paper, photos and other images onto the pages, but be aware your book may not “close” all the way, which is completely fine.

In this first version, I kept the images on the left and lines from the first stanza of an e e cummings poem on the right. I used markers for the images and the text.

(I’m pretty proud of this Bob Ross-inspired page – I did it while watching one of his TV shows, following his directions to create the “perspective”. I did it to prove that it’s NOT easy…and I was wrong. It just takes courage to try.)

In the second version, I experimented with a variety of art supplies – I tried to list them as a reference for each photo.