Pimp up your paperback

Hi folks,

when I went to Portugal last summer I found this wonderful present edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Beautiful and Damned" with gilt edge pages, a nice book cover and a bookmark. Since then I've been thinking about how I could imitate this at home. Actually I found a quite easy solution, which I want to share with you today. :)

What you'll need: 

• paperback 
• gold watercolour
• bristle brush
• gift/creative paper (make sure the paper is not too thin)
• pencil
• cutter
• glue (for the bookmark)

How it works:  

Use your bristle brush with your gold watercolour and start colouring the book pages. It's important to press the pages together very hard, otherwise the watercolour may also leak into the book. Colour along the pages and make sure you don't use too much water with your colour in order to prevent the pages from sticking together. 

When all the pages have dried, draw the outlines of your book onto the back side of your paper. You'll need 3 to 5 cm (depending on the size of the book) on every long side to fold into the book, so don't forget to include those in your drawing as well. Then cut out your new book cover. :)
Fold in your extra cm on every side and wrap it around your book.

To finish your book project create a nice label with the book title and put it on your book.
If you want you can also make a fitting bookmark. For this I simply used a price tag and glued some more of the gift paper around it.

Done! :)