Welcome to the maiden voyage of Project Reanimate. Hope you enjoy the journey.
Let's start the new year with a mystery we all have in common. Got a bunch of passwords? Can't remember any of them? Outsmarted yourself with password strength, symbols, caps, lower case, obscure numeric combinations - and a different one for each of your favorite 100 websites?
Welcome to the 2K whatevers. We've all got such high security none of us can access any of our stuff anymore.
You know what works all the time? Paper. Paper never becomes inaccessible, or locks your account after three attempts to remember your mother in law's favorite high school football team.
Solve your modern dilemma by reanimating an old mystery. My fave? Well who better to keep your passwords safe than Nancy Drew, of course?!!
She's your ticket to total recall.
Get yourself a used hardback book. I love Half Price Books, because you can get fun old books for a buck or less, but feel free to grab one off the shelf next to your bed. Next, get yourself a refill from one of those refillable journals. I was all set to bind my own book, yada yada, but these are great because they are pre-bound and have covers that are perfection for adhering to the inside of your book. No need to re-create the wheel here.
Examine the book carefully. They're bound differently, and your deconstruction should be tailored to the book.
This book had kind of a classic combo - sewn binding, plus glue and paper plates that adhered it to the shell.
These are easy to separate because the spine of the pages isn't attached to the spine of the cover.
Just take a craft knife and cut the book free by slicing the sides of the actual book part away from the cover.
Don't you worry about the inside of this book - this will make OODLES of cards and gifts. Don't you dare throw it away. I can't wait to use mine!!
Here's what your newly freed cover will look like. All primed and ready to go.
Now, put the journal inside the cover to check the fit.
Mine was the perfect height, but 3/4" too wide. I used a ruler and a craft knife to trim the pages - it gave them a distressed, uneven look that an old book has. If you want a more polished look, your local office supply store has trimming machines that will slice off whatever you need for a very low price!
Take some of your favorite old white glue - nothing fancy, and slather it all over both the inside of your cover and on the outside of the journal, being careful not to get any on the pages.
I used a sponge to smooth it out after I added the glue. This blue one is from the $1 spot at Target, and I just cut it up to get a bunch of usable pieces.
Carefully insert the journal refill once your glue is distributed, making sure it's aligned, and that the journal covers are secured to the inside of the front and back cover.
Here's the hardest part. Wait. Put it under some heavy books and leave it for 8 + hours until the glue is totally dry. This will ensure a long life.
When it's dry, embellish the inside as desired. I stamped
the alphabet inside, so that the passwords could be arranged by website name. First, I counted the pages and divided by 26 - I got 5 pages per letter, which is really 10 with front & back.
I hope you enjoyed this mysterious reanimation! This is a quick and easy gift for anyone living in our modern world.
If you would like to see my paper arts blog, please visit
Understand Blue.
See you soon!
Bam! Adorable!! And it happened to coordinate with some cardstock I had on my desk - BONUS.
