Tutorial - Repairing a Board Book Binding

I have been spending a lot of time spring cleaning lately.  As I looked over my son's board book shelf I found a few that had been chewed on.  It made me a little sad and I was tempted to toss them...but I hate to toss anything that well loved.  Some of these books have made it through 3 children already.   I finally got the idea to try and repair them. What did I have to lose, right?

Here is what you need:

Heavy Cardstock (I got mine at Micheal's)
Scrapbook Paper
Scissors
Gluestick
Packing Tape
Pencil (Optional)
Fine Sharpie Marker
White Craft Paint and Fine Paintbrush (Optional)

1. Pick up your board book with the destroyed or missing binding.  Mine was partially destroyed and so I had to begin by cutting off the remaining binding.  You will also notice that the back cover was had to use my glue stick to tack it down again.

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Your book should look like this

2. Now we will take our book and put it spine down on our cardstock. Trace around the base of the spine with a pencil (my daughter was being my hand model since I have trouble taking pictures and doing the modeling).

Cut out your rectangle.  Now here is where you want to double check the fit.  I like to put the cutout on my board book spine and feel to make sure it isn't hanging over.  I trim the spots were it does.  You could probably also sand it down.  

3.  Put your scrapbook paper face down and put place your cardboard cutout on top of that.  I like to leave about 1/2 an inch border all the way around the cardboard.  Glue the cardboard to the paper.  I now make an "L" shaped cut out or corner cuts at the top and bottom.Fold the paper down onto the cardboard and glue down.  This will give your book spine a more finished look! 

Now fold your paper up on the sides leaving the two sides sticking up.  You actually have two options here.  You can fold the paper sides onto the cardboard and simply affix with a little to your spine.  Or you can place the paper side onto your book and glue down. I will show you what each looks like.

Here it is folded in onto the cardboard. I add a thin boarder of paint next to it to clean up any exposed edges.

Here is the paper coming down onto the book for a little extra clean up I added a white paint border.  The white paint border is actually unnecessary here, I added it for continuity since the front had a thin white border.

 4.  You might have noticed this is also where I add my title.  I wrote mine on in pencil and then traced over them to make sure I centered them.  You could just go for it, stamp one, print it off on your computer, or use scrapbooking letters.

5. Use a long piece of packing tape to cover the whole length of binding.  You might want it a bit longer.  I slowly push it down on both sides to prevent creasing or bubbles.  I then use my craft scissors to cut off the excess tape.  I like the tape because it protects the paper and gives a little waterproofing against my little teether.  

Here you are, they even fit in decently on the bookshelf. 

For a little extra fun you can check out some of our favorite children's books on my pinterest board