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How to Make Art from a Book Dust Jacket: Such an EASY Project!

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Book Jacket Wall Art Craft: Using all of our favorite children's books to make decor for the playroom wall.

Ever wonder what to do with those loose covers that come with your favorite children’s books? This book jacket project uses the loose cover to create art for a playroom or nursery.

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I love love love books. In school, I was the kid who would sneak books to hide under my desk and read once I’d finished all my schoolwork. My teachers seemed pretty tolerant of it, and it was my “thing.”

My grandmother used to record stories on CD for me and I’d listen to them before bed. Every night. I helped out in the library during recess and lunch periods in middle school.

When it boils down to it, I spent a majority of my day engrossed in reading. Not much has changed, although I spend a lot of time these day reading things on the internet as well as books. I like absorbing information.

I’ve been eager to pass these magical worlds and the ability to have infinite information at your fingertips onto my kids. I absolutely love reading to them and before they were even born, I started recording books on audio book for them to have when they were older.

I’ve even recorded family members reading to the boys so they can have that to listen to as well. Our family is all long distance so it seemed like a sweet way to keep everyone connected. My grandma read to me as a girl via a cassette tape and that kept us connected across a distance.

Now loving books AND your children can come with some small challenges. Toddlers aren’t book friendly! Can I tell you how bummed I was the first times a book was ripped or spit up on or chewed on?!

I know they’re kids, but the books! The books!

While I couldn’t prevent ALL injuries to books, I tried to minimize the damage and removed all of the book jackets- they were redundant because the book’s hardcover had the same images and the kids were ripping the dust covers accidentally during handling.

They ended up on a shelf in the closet for months.

Finally I said enough is enough – I need to declutter a bit. I also needed more wall art for our basement playroom. So I put the two projects together and I LOVE the result.

Easy Book Jacket Upcycle Project

Supplies

Supplies for making fabulous wall art from dust jackets of children's books!

Tutorial

I cut out my book jackets as I wanted them to appear on the canvas. You can recycle or compost the pieces you don’t use, or save the scraps for scrapbooking projects if you can use them.

Using a glue stick or mod podge, add a thin layer of glue to the back of the jackets and glue them onto the canvas. Let dry.

Once dry, use a layer of mod podge over your book jackets as a sealer. Press down firmly on areas that curl up.

Command strips are great for hanging these. Small ones seemed to work fine as the canvas panels aren’t heavy at all. I added my command strips to the backs and placed them how I wanted on the wall.

Very quick and easy project!

These are photos of the completed wall art … aren’t they GORGEOUS?! These are some of my sons’ favorite books. I also made a couple more that I haven’t hung up yet.

Dust jacket DIY project with children's books.

Other Canvas Art Ideas:

Playroom wall art featuring your favorite children's books!
Display your favorite books as art with this easy craft that uses dust jackets!

NO BOOKS WERE INJURED IN THE MAKING OF THIS WALL ART!

Do you love reading too? What’s your favorite book?

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Melissia Bruehl

Tuesday 22nd of January 2019

I love this so much!! Definitely on my list to do for our playroom.

Danielle

Tuesday 29th of January 2019

It's definitely one of my favorite projects! :)

Jenny Romaine

Wednesday 24th of February 2016

So smart! I love this idea! I just usually ditch them book jackets. How cute would this be in a classroom, too!

Danielle

Wednesday 24th of February 2016

Thanks! Yes they'd be great in a classroom- or a library!

Christine Graves

Tuesday 23rd of February 2016

Great upcycle! Great use of book jackets, that could easily come from the thrift store. Thanks for joining the Dishing It & Digging It Link party too, I hope it brings you some new friends!

Danielle

Tuesday 23rd of February 2016

Thank you!

Ally | The Speckled Goat

Friday 19th of February 2016

Oh. My. Goodness.

I love this!! This is completely brilliant! Those stinkin' book jackets are always in the way, but so pretty... this is a great way to put them to use! Sharing!

Danielle

Friday 19th of February 2016

Thanks! I love it so much :)

Andrea Bates

Friday 19th of February 2016

This is a really cute idea! My daughter takes the jackets off of her books pretty much immediately - so we have plenty we could do this with. For me that'd be sacrilege, because I keep them on my hardback books, but still ... creative!

Danielle

Friday 19th of February 2016

Yeah I get really sensitive about this too, lol. But all the books have the exact same image on their hardcover so I decided to go for it. If they had a blank cover like some of the adult books, I'd NEVER do it. Lol.