Looks like a REAL Spell Book: DIY Lovers

 Its almost Halloween! (Kinda)

& since I cannot decorate the outside of my condo I deck out the 

inside so much that it looks like a cross between A Nightmare

 Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus!

To make my house authentic looking I made a REAL looking 

spell book for decoration.

P.S. This is also cheap which is the best reason to craft!!!!!

I found this DIY project on Pinterest and decided it

was my turn to try it with the help of my unwilling roommates!

DIY looks REAL Spellbook

Supplies:

• Text book or magic book in my case (a book with a larger surface area and thicker to look authentic) 
• Cardboard
• Plastic skeleton and plastic bat (I bought mine in a pack with other toys at Dollar Tree)
• Thumbtacks
• A couple of sheets of paper towel
• 1 glue bottle (who can afford fancy Modge Podge!?)
• Brown or black acrylic paint (base)
• Gold, red, or tan acrylic paint (accent)

Materials:

• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Bowl
• Water
• Unwilling roommate hands
• Various sizes of paint brushes 

Step 1: Naming

When choosing a name I 

suggest picking something spooky. 

My roommates and I 

first thought of naming it Grimoire 
(we're watching Witches of East End) 

and then The Book of Shadows (I'm watching Charmed) but we wanted
 something else that was still spooky and original. 

So we used the handy-dandy search tool: Google and since we couldn't decide,
 my boyfriend thought of "nameless". We translated "nameless" in Latin
 (everything sounds better in Latin) which gave us "ignobiles"
 (according to one website)

Step 2: Cardboard cutting
Trace your chosen name on the cardboard. Scale it to the size of the cover space.
I tried to draw mine in  an older font. After drawing it out take a box cutter and cut
it out. Place the words around the top of the book, leaving room for the skeleton batman.
After placing your title where you want, hot glue the words down.

Step 3: Decorate!
So while the hot glue gun is on go ahead and glue designs on the
 face of the book such as a spider web or arrows, anything 
that will give the final look more detail.

Next take your plastic bat and cut off its wings. Position them on your cover and
then lay the plastic skeleton on top and then hot glue them down.
Also I would place thumbtacks around the boarder to give it a little more detail.

Remember to hot glue some decorations on the binding of the book.
To give it a little more ump you could spell out your title
again on the binding.

Step 4: Paper-mache time!

Mix 2 parts glue to one part water in a bowl, adding in more glue

if it is too watery. Dip a large sheet of paper towel in the "Modge Podge"

and then squeeze the excess out. Before placing the towel on cover

I suggest spreading out more glue, especially on the title and skeleton man. 

Then stretch out the towel on the cover. If the towel does not reach

the inside of the book add more damp towel. It is important that it is glued

on the inside or it will not stick! When spreading it out keep some 

of the creases on the book to give it more texture.  

Pay attention to the letters and the skeleton so that they are still accented.

Stretch the towel onto the binding of the book and then we wait!

I gave it a night (8 hours) 

This is the longest process but its worth it!

After it was dried I went back over it with a couple more sheets of damp towel

so it would have more texture.

 then waited...

                                    Front:                                               Back:

Step 5: Painting

After it has dried we paint!

The base paint should be a darker tone: black or brown.

Paint the inside cover too.

Step 6: Accent painting

So to get the authentic look the book has to look old, and old books

usually look like they have been worn out so I took light brown and brick red and
 mixed the two together. I took a small brush and dipped it into the paint

and then rubbed off the excess. I lightly stroked the raised  areas. 

Detail the title, the skeleton man, and the other decorations. I then rubbed

the brush onto the creases to give it more of a worn look. Don't forget to 

detail the edges of the book too! 

And anywhere that I accidentally added too much light brown paint 
I just retouched with black paint so mistakes can be made.

Finished front:

Finished back:

& here is a link to the blog where I found this original DIY project.