Decorative Book with Hidden Storage Inside
Do you remember when you were a kid and you wanted a super secret place to hide things from your sibling? Having a secret book with a hidden storage compartment would have been perfect! Even as an adult, it’s nice to have a spot where you can hide something personal, valuable or sweet (think dark chocolate!) 😉
This DIY Decorative Hidden Storage Book is a relatively easy project, but it takes a little patience and a very sharp X-acto knife (so have a few fresh blades to replace when your blade dulls.)
Materials:
- Fat book (shop Goodwill or repurpose an old book you already own)
- X-acto knife
- 4-5 New X-acto blades
- Ruler with a metal edge
- Self-healing cutting board
- Paint brush
- Mod Podge
- Gold craft paint (optional)
- 3 Sheets of scrapbook paper (2 the same design and 1 coordinating design)
- Scotch tape
- Rubber cement
- Wax paper (cereal box bags work great)
- Cup to mix mod podge in
- Weights or heavy objects
- Ribbon
Instructions:
Remove the dust jacket from your book and flip into the book a few pages.
Lay a gift card or treasure you want to hide on the page and scribe a line for the hollow compartment border.
Using the x-acto knife and your ruler, cut through one page along the scribed lines.
Lift the page up the cut page.
Slip a piece of wax paper between the cut page and the rest of the book.
Slip more wax paper between the pages and the back cover of the book to protect them from getting mod podge and paint on it.
Mix mod podge and gold paint in a small container. use the paint brush to paint the sides of the book. Use caution around the spine to avoid getting paint on it.
Close the book and set weights on top of the book while it dries.
You can store your mod podge mixture covered in the fridge to keep it from drying out.
After the paint/mod podge has dried on the book, the page should be held together making it easier to cut. Open the cover and begin cutting pages out of the book along the compartment border line.
Cut a few pages at a time and lift them out. Repeat until your compartment is deep enough to hold treasures.
Retrieve the gold mod podge mixture and paint the edges of the pages. (Note: Leave the first page separate for a minute.)
For extra protection, seal the bottom with the mod podge mixture.
Coat the outer border of the compartment mod podge and lay the reserved first page on top. This gives you a clean page border.
Alternatively, you can paint gold modge podge around the border if you like.
To create a new decorative dusk jacket, (1) line up the two pieces of scrapbook paper side by side. (2) Tape them together on the back side.
(3) Cut a strip of scrapbook paper that is wide enough to wrap around your book’s spine. Coat the back side with rubber cement. (4) Brush rubber cement onto the seam of the two taped pieces of scrapbook paper (keep the rubber cement withing the same width of the spine piece.)
(5) Wait for the rubber cement layers to dry and then lay the spine piece on top of the seam of the scrapbook papers. (Double coat rubber cement adheres best this way. If you have one coat rubber cement, then don’t wait for it to dry.) (6) Press firmly and rub off any excess rubber cement with your fingers.
Wrap your cover over the book and mark where to trim the new dust jacket. Trim the excess with the x-acto knife and metal ruler.
Wrap the dust jacket over the book and fold the edges under.
Tuck your gift card, treasure or other inside the compartment and close the book.
These decorative books perform double duty by being attractive décor and hiding secrets inside!
The great thing is that you don’t even have to gift wrap it. Just add a bow and present the gift as is. Then see how long it takes them to find their gift inside.
You tell me which one of your friends or family members wouldn’t appreciate a hidden storage book?
How are you enjoying these great Très Frugal DIY gift ideas?
I also wanted to mention that my friends Ana White and Jaime from That’s My Letter are also creating their own Handmade Holiday series with incredible DIY gift ideas.
Be sure to check out their ideas!
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Hi, thanks for a great idea for my two nieces. I was just wondering: Why did you coat it with rubber cement in the first place? Does it make it more durable or something? I’m just curious if there is any big impact if I choose not to (as I have no idea where to get it in such a short notice), or if I should try to coat it with modpodge instead.
Anniken, I’m assuming you are talking about the decorative cover. I find that mod podge can cause the paper to warp or curl. But, if that’s what you have, just use that ;-).
Brittany – thank you so much for posting this tutorial. I am sort of in love with this as a lovely way to give a gift card. So much more interesting than a christmas card with a gift card inside. I am going to make several for Christmas. I do have one question though, why use rubber cement instead of some other craft white glue or since you are already using mod podge, just use that?
Marianna, excellent question…and there really isn’t any need for the rubber cement, you are correct! It’s just what I used. 😉 So, mod podge would work perfectly instead of the rubber cement.
I have one of these decorative books and I love it! It would make a great gift too! Thanks for sharing the DIY!
You’re welcome. 😉
I bet this is a gift both kids and adults would love. And thanks for the tips, I probably would have tried to cut out the pages before gluing them together!
Trust me, I tried it both ways. Gluing the pages first definitely helps!
Fabulous gift idea! Thank you!!!
Thanks Colleen!