Halloween Spellbook Craft

I’m just having the best week because our new Yellow Page book FINALLY arrived a few days ago! What a relief, because I’ve had so many people to call, and just didn’t even know where to start until we got home and found that little treasure on our driveway.

(Please note that anytime I’m talking about the Yellow Pages, it’s with sarcasm.)

But seriously, though. I saw the new Yellow Pages on our driveway and–knowing I was going to immediately toss/recycle it–thought “God that’s a waste!” even though it’s getting thinner and thinner every year (this year’s model seemed to be just over an inch thick or so).

Then I came to my senses and thought, what could we make out of this? And we ended up doing the easiest, coolest project of all time. Seriously, for as impressive as this looks, you’d be shocked that it is un-mess-up-able! And, we only spent a grand total of about $0.25 to make it, because we used nearly everything we already had on hand!

Here’s what to do if you want to make your own Halloween spell books.

Supplies:

• Book (hard cover will make a longer lasting project, but Yellow Pages works too!)
• Toilet paper or paper towels or a piece of tissue paper
• Flat(ish) Halloween toys (try your local dollar store for spiders, skeletons, etc. We also added some fake leaves and flowers we had on hand since we were making an “Herbology” book.
• Black paint
• Gold paint (This is my favorite gold paint of all time. Highly recommend!)
• Mod Podge
• Glue gun
• Sticker Letters (optional)

Steps:

1. Stick stuff onto your book! I used a permanent marker to write the book title (“Herbology”) onto our Yellow Pages in cursive, and then traced over that with our hot glue gun to give the title some texture. Or, if you prefer, you can also use some simple sticker letters (I found a nice set at the Dollar Tree as well.) Arrange and glue your other objects wherever you like. You can use small metal pieces as corner frames, flowers and leaves like we did, or simply add a few skeletons, spiders, or other creepy things. 
2. Brush everything with Mod Podge and apply your paper product. I had two-ply toilet paper on hand, and split it to just use single ply, but next time I’ll probably use a piece of tissue paper. Go ahead and apply this haphazardly. You want the top of the book to look wrinkled and antiqued; this step will give everything dimension and make your added objects look a little more streamlined. 
3. Once Mod Podge layer has dried, paint everything black. 
4. After black paint has dried, lightly brush everything with your gold paint. I added thicker paint over the “Herbology” lettering, and much thinner over the rest of the book. 
5. That’s it! (Unless you want to antique the edges of the pages around the book. You can brush with black paint, or use the trusty old tea/coffee stain to age.)

So easy. Seriously, messing it up and being sloppy makes it look even more perfect, so it’s a great kid craft if you’re looking to make some Halloween decor!