Old School Book Cover…

When you have more creativity than money for a gift

We used to make these protective covers back in school when books were assigned for the quarter. Not sure if kids still do, but I always liked them and they make a great personalized accessory if you’re giving a vintage book (or any book for that matter).

They are very inexpensive to make, so if you’re on a budget and you find a neat used book for under $5 that will pretty much be the cost of the gift if you use a brown paper bag for the wrapper.

Of course, you can also use beautiful paper too, or anything in between.

In the photo below, I’m showing a brown paper bag taken apart and made into a rectangle and after that I’m using a piece of brown kraft paper I already had and which is a little bit smoother (my bag was wrinkled).

That said, with the exception of the mushroom book, the finished examples are made using grocery bags and I do think there is something nostalgic about that surface. It’s thicker than normal kraft paper and just really harkens back to the day when you might have been doodling on it in 5th period, at least if you’re of a certain age.

Supplies Needed

• Brown Paper Bag, Standard size (unless your book is oversized, in which case you may need to choose a different paper) or any paper of your choosing, as long as it’s larger at least a couple inches larger than your book when open on all sides.

• Scissors

• Ruler

• Pencil

• Anything you want to use to decorate your cover - pen, stickers, etc.

Directions

If using a brown bag, carefully pull apart the seem at the back, then cut off the entire bottom rectangle (the part of the bag that would be sitting on the counter), as shown above. Then follow instructions below whether using bag or regular paper.

Once you have the equivalent of a rectangle either with your bag or paper, place your book, opened at the center, on it.

Measure 3” from each side edge of the open book and about 2” from each bottom and top edge.
Cut to trim down (so you’re paper looks like the above with the extra inches around the overall book size.

Fold Lines

Make sure your book is centered and then close it with both sides folded in to make sure it’s in the correct position.
Then mark the top and bottom edges (see small lilac pencil mark on the paper) on both sides of the book. Remove the book and use the pencil marks as a fold-line guide (your bottom and top fold).

Image above shows the fold line drawn.
NOTE: if you are using a brown bag, make sure any store logos etc are on the inside of the cover. If the writing is on the outside, just reverse it.

This is the way your cover should look now.
Make sure the vertical flaps cover the horizontal ones to allow the book front and back covers to slip in.

Slip the front and back cover into the side flaps and now you’re free to decorate.

Colored pencils, felt marker, paint, collage…use whatever you like. I went with colored pencils for this mushroom book. They’re actually watercolor pencils, so I could wet them and have a painted look too.

You can decorate the spines, the cover, the back cover and the inside if you choose.

For this cover, I chose a simple black marker to do a very hand drawn image. You could also spend more time and do something more refined, however, I think the casual, somewhat 70s style goes well with the brown bag. Plus it reminds me of school doodles.
The Mushroom cover shown earlier has the same vibe and could be given as a set.

Another idea is to use a label like the vintage style on on the cover to the left, above. This works great if you’re covering a journal with a specific topic.

You can also personalize the inside flap with a message if giving as a gift and/ or include a enveloped card or message under the flap.
The options are many.
Making book covers is fun, creative and best of all, inexpensive. And the chance of someone keeping a book with handmade cover is pretty high - whether the art is high brow or just a doodle.