Flashback Project: My Mini Library

I am a book lover and reader extraordinaire (you know, on top of that crafting thing). I have always dreamed of having a reading room or library in my first home. The kind of room with chintz chairs and floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mahogany book shelves filled with literature and a secret wall panel that opens up and reveals a room full of knitting supplies and-- 

Okay, my imagination ran away with me for a bit there, but you get the idea: I love books. So, narturally, when I stumbled upon the instructions on how to make these adorable tiny books I was hooked. 

Here is my first mini book: The Lord of the Rings. I decided to make LotR my first book because it was what I happened to be reading at the time. I opted to use paper instead of fabric as the instructions said because I had easier access to paper then to fabric, although I seriously considered ripping up an old t-shirt and using the scraps from that (I'm in college, what do you think, I'm made of money?). Alas, I couldn't bare to destroy a good shirt, so paper it was.

The final result ended up being 1 1/4" x 1". Formatting the front cover picture was a bit tricky, but after a few failed attempts I eventually got it down to a science. All in all, it took about an hour and a half to finish one book and most of that was allotting time for the glue to dry. 

The best part of this project: using a nail file to sand the edges of the pages before binding the cover on so the pages were even. The was a lot of satisfaction in seeing the smoothness in the pages and blowing off all of the resulting paper dust. My poor roommate, I think I almost gave her an asthma attack from all the dust. 

Anyone who knows me will tell you I obsess easily, especially when it comes to crafts. The second I have successfully completed a new project I immediately want to make 27 more. This was no exception.

All of the colors and title fonts were chosen with great care. You should have seen me, it took about 3 hours just to choose select everything based on the book title and even then I still changed my mind when it came time to commit. I wanted the font and color to reflect the personality of the book and I really liked the result.  One book that is not included in the picture is a tiny red copy of Gone with the Wind, which I gave to my aunt as a gift. 

Like any true reader, book collecting never stops and the collection is constantly growing. You can bet I will be making more in the future or whenever the mood strikes. I have every intention of making a full mini set of the Harry Potter series, I just haven't found the perfect colored paper for it yet and I refuse to do anything but the best by those books. 

Future titles will include: Harry Potter 1-7, Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, The Once and Future King,  The Odyssey, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Blood and Chocolate, and The Other Boleyn Girl.