How to Decorate Schoolbook Covers

Home made or commercial covers for school books can look boring and the paper they are made of is thin and fragile. Decorating the covers can liven up and protect the outside of the book and maybe heighten your child's interest in using them. Book covers protect schoolbooks and prevent costly book charges if they are damaged. You can use any craft materials found around the house to decorate book covers such as markers, fabric paint and sequins.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pencils
• Fabric paint
• Markers
• Plastic rhinestones
• Yarn
• Rubber stamps
• Stamp ink
• Glue

1. Gather decorating materials. Pencils, fabric paint, felt tip markers, fake rhinestones, rubber stamps and ink, stencils, yarn and glue all make good decorating materials.

2. Practice your book cover design on a separate piece of paper. Before you begin your actual book cover, practice on scratch paper in order to prevent having to start over multiple times.

3. Remove the publishers paper book cover before decorating. This will prevent glue, markers or paint from bleeding through and ruining the book cover.

4. Using a pencil to lightly sketch the title of the book, the owners name and designs you want to embellish on the book cover.

5. Outline the sketched title, name and designs with paint, markers, rhinestones or yarn. Use the materials to add further embellishment.

6. Dry the cover thoroughly before putting it on the school book. This will prevent paint or glue from sticking to the real book cover.

7. Consider further protection of your book cover by laminating or covering it with clear contact paper.

Tips & Warnings

• Fabric book covers are flimsy, insert a piece of cardboard into the cover before decorating.
• Feel free to use any craft materials you have, decorations are only limited by your imagination.

Resources

• Arts and Crafts ideas
• Cool Paper Book Covers