Altered Board Book Tutorial

My daughter had a few board books that just did not capture her interest, so I decided to alter them with words and pictures I knew she would like. The one shown above is now filled with pictures of her and her friends and family, cute stickers and paper embellishments. I can't wait to give it to her for Valentine's Day. Here's how I did it. First get an unwanted board book that is in reasonably decent condition (no warped pages, etc.).

Next, trace the front cover of the book onto some heavy cardstock or packing cardboard to make a template for the page liners. Cut it out.

Using your template, cut up scrapbook paper or other patterned paper into as many pieces as you need to cover each page of the book, plus one piece for the front, and one for the back.


If your book has curved edges like mine, use an edge trimmer or scissors to round the edges of your page liners.

Now it's time to cover each of the interior pages of the book. Lightly coat the book page with Mod Podge or watered down Tacky Glue, applied with a sponge for the thinnest coat. Trim your page liner by about 1/8 of an inch along the long, non-round-edge side. This way it won't bump right up agains the inner edge of the book and make the book get too bulky.


Press the page liner onto the Mod Podge-covered page and gently smooth out any wrinkles.



Apply the page liner for the front cover. You will use the full size piece of paper since there is no need to trim away from the margin. Decorate in any way you want. I added ric-rac (see below), a chipboard sticker (see top picture) and scrapbook lettering stickers. For the back cover, you will probably need to trim closer to 1/2 inch from the long side of the page liner because you need to place it beyond the seam where the book folds.



Now the really fun part -- write the story and decorate and/or illustrate the inside pages.