bibliophile - ˈbiblēəˌfīl| noun a person who collects or has a great love of books.

Have we ever mentioned that we love old books.  They are rich in color, print and graphics.  We love the yellowed imperfect pages as much as an interesting book spine.

Anthropologie went through a period that they showed their love of books through their inspirational displays.

      We have used them for display in the 7g booth over and over again. 

We use them for risers to get the featured item on display to just the right height.  

We have used them open to display items....

and we have used them closed, with the display on the cover.  

I thought I would share a fun book project that is quick and easy using a book as a frame for fun photo.  

You will need:

1.  Smaller size photo

2.  old hardback book

3.  glass from a dollar store frame - size will depend on your book and size of photo

4.  paper, 7g tissue, some ribbon and embellishments

5.  7g metal corners

Find an old book that goes with the picture that you have chosen.  The book shown above is about travel and matched the vintage photo.  

On the book below, I have a grandson named Will and was lucky enough to find this book....yep, that is the actual title of the book!....and this photo was perfect.

You will need glass from a cheap frame that is slightly larger than your photo.  Glue metal corners to the glass.

You can choose to cover the front of the book with paper or leave plain so that you can see the title of the book.  On the book below I covered with 7gypsies tissue the I decoupaged directly to the cover (shown is one of the old tissues, but they have some lovely new styles that are now available).  Once covered I embellished with paper, twill, ribbon and a few decorative metal pieces.  

The decoupaged tissue, paper, ribbon and twill wrap around the edges of the book, but only go to the edge of the spine.  The black ribbon tied around the cover was to cover that edge.

After the cover is finished you are ready to attach the glass to go over the photo.  I used 7gypsies 6" elastics.  Use an awl to make the holes for the elastic.  Insert elastic with the barbed ends and turn the barbs so the ends don't come back through hole.  You want the elastic to hold the glass snugly to the book cover so if necessary pull the elastic taunt from inside the cover and knot the end.

The "Power of Will" book, after I attached the glass with the elastics, I simple slipped the ribbon under the glass and around the book to tie the book closed.  

That's it....it's ready to set on a shelf....easy and cheap!

MORE INSPIRATION -

While Paula and I were in Anthropologie this week we discovered two books showing ways to use and recycle old books.  Both had some clever ideas that we think you might enjoy. 

You can check them out on Amazon (or Anthropologie).