To say I’m excited to share this DIY tutorial is an understatement! I’ve looked all over the internet and I think my tutorial is the very first tutorial ever made specifically for a Book Mobile. If you’re new here, this DIY was highly requested because of the mobile I made for our Nursery in this blog post. Book mobiles aren’t just for nurseries but also look good in little girl and tween rooms too and would be great decor at weddings and baby showers! I have more exciting news at the end of post so don’t forget to scroll all the way to end! Alright! Let’s jump right in!

Time: 3-4 hours depending on how elaborate your embellishments are

To replicate this book mobile you will need:

1. Book 2. Wooden Horse 3. Ribbon 4. Hammer and Nail 5. Glitter Glue 6. High Temp Hot-Glue Gun 7. Pencil 8. Twine & Fishing Line 9. Several Pieces of Cardboard 10. Paper Flowers 1 & 2 2. X-Acto Knife 12. Paintbrush 13. Blowdryer 14. Glitter 15. Black Paint 16. Ruler

*You will also need a drill if you decided to hang the wooden horse as seen in this tutorial.

1. First, measure the spine of your book and trace it onto a piece of cardboard. Place your extra cardboard beneath the piece you traced your spine on and with your exact knife cut out the new spine from the cardboard. Make a light first pass with your knife–then a deeper second pass. The cardboard spine is there to provide support for the spine after you’ve removed the pages.

2. Release the spine from the end pages of the book. Make several shallow passes at the base of the end pages. The end pages are usually thicker and will be glued to the last thinner pages of the book as well. If you press too hard with your knife you might cut through the spine of the book. As you cut through the end page you will feel the netting as you cut closer to the spine. Cut through the netting slowly from top to bottom. Once the page is released repeat on the other side. Again, be careful not to cut all the way through the spine.

*This is where the blowdryer might come in handy. Every book is different and some have their pages glued onto the spine–that was not the case with this book. But, the book I made my original mobile did. If that is the case, use your blowdryer to help soften the glue and run your knife gently between the spine and the glue to release it.

3. Once the pages have been removed place your cardboard spine into the spine of the book. If the cardboard is a tight fit trim it down a little but not too much. The cardboard spine helps the book’s covers stay open. Once the cardboard is the right size glue it down.

4. You’ll need to cut a paper spine for your pages to hang from. Cut an inch wide section from one of the books end-pages (because the paper is thicker) and tri-fold it hotdog style. Glue onto the carboard spine.

5. Take the extra cardboard and place it under the spine of your book. Using your hammer and nail punch a hole halfway down the spine.

6. Thread the twine through the hole and tie a figure eight knot. Pull the string until the knot is flush with the spine and glue it into place.

7. Cut pages loose from the binding and determine your page layout. If your book has illustrations you might want to feature them toward the bottom.

8. Start by folding your pages hotdo style and gluing three of them into the spine to create your base. Glue at least one page to each side of your new paper spine.

9. Keep glueing your pages until a shape starts to form. Make sure your pages are glued on straight. This is tricky to do and I had to stay on top of mine to keep them straight.

10. Paint your horse front and back.

11. While your horse is drying, choose your flower layout and hot glue them to your fishing line. Leave plenty of extra fishing line on the ends to hang them. I also included ribbon for this tutorial because if fishing line isn’t your thing ou could always substitute pretty ribbon!

13. Once the horse is dry, paint your horse with glitter glue and glitter your horse wherever you want.

14. Drill a hole in your horse and tie it up with the fishing line.

15. Decide the layout for your embellishments layout and glue them down to the book’s cover.

Hang and enjoy!

Maegan – xx

 

GIVEAWAY WINNER IS: @Amymooreporter

 

Now as promised the Big Announcement:

 

ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL WIN THIS BOOK MOBILE!

To Enter:

1. Join my email list–you can find the sign-up at the bottom of this post under my photo or in the sidebar if you’re on a desktop/laptop

2. Like this post on my Instagram page and tag a friend on that same post

Done!

One entry for signing up for the email list. One entry for liking the Instagram post and tagging a friend. You get two entries if you do both!

This giveaway will run from 07/12/2018 – 07/19/2018. Winner will be contacted and announced on 07/20/2018. Winner will have 24 hours to contact me. If the winner does not respond to contact in 24 hours another winner will be picked.

*Open to US residents only. Must be 18 years or older to enter.