Thursday, October 13, 2011

Tutorials for Recycling Books

We rode bikes around our neighborhood this weekend and stopped at all the garage sales we found along the way. I love doing this because it's like exercise and shopping in one! Plus, my bike basket is perfect for holding whatever treasures I find. On this particular trip I was noticing a lot of old books for sale. My DIY craving kicked in and I knew I had to do some research on the projects I could use old books for. I found a ton of goodies to try!
Love this! Amazing tutorial to create a planter out of an old book.
Use old book pages to create a pretty wreath.
Create adorable shelves using this tutorial.
Follow this tutorial to create an awesome book clock!
Make a lamp out of a stack of books with this tutorial!

41 comments:

  1. Oh, I love these! I'm going to try the book shelves asap! I'm totally obsessive about books. I think I have about 5 storage containers filled and still more overflowing my shelves.

    -Tiffany
    http://www.bathbodyandbeauty.com
    Becoming naturally beautiful one article at a time...

    ReplyDelete
  2. People are so creative! All of these are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm really feeling those shelves!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those are cool, I like the shelf, but I have seen them out made for books, and the hardware is hidden, so, it looks like the books are floating on the wall. Very fun.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i LOVE that wreath!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:08 AM

    I'm in love with every single one of these!! Every picture i thought, "oh I love that" then "ohhh I really love that!" Thanks for sharing Julie :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is there a post about your bike somewhere? it sounds pretty awesome. I collect Moby Dick books, it makes looking through the books at yard sales really fun, but now I have reason to grab other titles too... THANKS!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooo! I love those bookshelves, and the clock is really cool too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. books as bookshelves I love that! I love browsing through neighborhood sales, there's always such great things to find. I hope you picked up some old books for yourself!

    -rachel w k
    rwkrafts.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous2:24 PM

    i love the shelves and the lampshades! so cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. These are awesome! I love the shelves! Now I need to go find me some old books. What great ideas. Bookmarking now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have a friend who used an old book from his parents' garage to make a Kindle reader case.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great way to recycle books! Now I wish I had not gotten rid of all my books.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! I really like that book clock, think I will try this myself! THank you for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  15. The clock and the planter are my favorites. If I ever get a spar moment they'd look great in my bedroom. Thanks for the ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:40 PM

    These are all good ideas but it does make me a little sad, those books were written to be read by people. Well I suppose at least they aren't being chucked in the bin.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is wonderful - perfect for a book squirrel like me :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous7:08 AM

    Amazing! Especially the shelving. I will keep this in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love all of your ideas and love looking at crafty projects, but I rarely get around to doing them. So if you don't mind, I will live vicariously through your projects!! Look forward to the next installment

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am SO making that lamp to stand on my night table. My regular lamp is already set on a stack of books; I may as well incorporate those into the design!
    I have a book clock that I made years ago in church camp, using a Reader's Digest condensed book. We painted & decoupaged the covers to make them pretty-- mine had yellow roses on it, and I gave it to my Grandmother for Christmas. She still had it when she died 15 years later.

    ReplyDelete
  21. It's great! I love the book clock...I think I'll try to make one..thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love the wreath on the wall! Is there a tutorial?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love the 'book'shelves!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Nifty ideas but, like Anonymous, I'm a little sad that the books aren't being read.... But I can't help but love the lamp and shelves!

    ReplyDelete
  25. OH my! Love this post!! Stumbled upon you! So glad I did!

    nicole
    writespell.com
    primthings.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I just stumbled on it and I LOVE YOUR BLOG :) I like the one with clock and shelves. Gah, people are so creative which is why I love them :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Very imaginative, :). I like all these ideas, :). Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  28. It's great idea! I'm going to make adorable shelves :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. All of the ideas are great - so great I can't pick a favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Love all of your cute tutorials! Nothing better than reusing what we already have in a different way!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great ideas. Like them all. But the bookshelves are
    my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  32. There are various things you can do make your old books useful again. Learning all these things can really help you enhance your skills. This can be shared with other people so that they will no longer have to throw old books away.

    ReplyDelete
  33. These are sooo creative I love the idea! count me as your new follower! So much fun and creative ideas in this web site!

    Annabella Merlin
    Creative Photo Albums

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love this! Such a cute idea!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Love the pumpkin made from a book!
    Judy K.

    ReplyDelete
  36. love love love these ideas! visiting you from the etsy build your blog team :) beautiful blog!

    Saralyn

    www.studiomaisonblog.us

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous10:17 PM

    I only thought I was creative! Wonderful ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love the bookshelves. However, I think I am going to turn the bracket the other way, and then cover the part that shows with more books.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous7:55 PM

    I like some of these ideas, but I hate the thought of destroying good books for some of these. I hope at least for history's sake that most of the books people use for these projects are damaged in some way, smoke or water damage...something to justify ripping pages out and cutting holes in them.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Amazing!!! Who knew you could do so many different decor pieces with recycling old books? I love the idea and I especially love the way it looks! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the comment! I read them all and reply when I can. Please be sure your blogger account is linked to your e-mail so I can do so! (Tutorial on how to do that here: http://tinyurl.com/c6gh9fk) xo JA