Halloween How-To: Halloween Spell Book with Laura Bickle



Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I love making decorations for this time of year. 

I looked around at the materials I had rattling around my craft room and thought I’d try to create a fancier journal than the kind I usually use.



For this project, I used:

A plain journal
Black spray paint
Gold hobby paint
A couple plastic spider rings 
Brushes
Alphabet pasta
Glue

I already had these items at hand. So I’ve invested pretty much nothing in this project. I won’t too feel bad if it doesn’t turn out! 

I used a blank book for this project, but if you wanted to create a purely decorative book, you could use any book at hand. Just make sure that the cover doesn’t have raised lettering or a texture that you wouldn’t want to see later in the project. I also suggest using a hardcover book for stability.

First thing I did was pour the alphabet pasta out on a plate and fish out some letters. I picked enough letters to create a label for the book: SPELLS.

I glued the letters onto the book. I didn’t worry about making them too even or anything. I wanted them to look pretty whimsical. I did try to be mindful not to use very much glue on each letter and used the end of a paintbrush to position them (to avoid burned fingers). Looking back, I should have used even less! But the idea is that the letters will be raised and will be highlighted with gold paint. 

Using my glue gun, I drizzled the outline of a spider web on the cover of the book. Looking back, I could have used this to write “Spells” on the cover. 


I cut off the ring parts of two spider rings and also glued them on the cover. If you have other plastic creepy-crawlies around, like snakes or insects, you could also use those.

Next, I spray painted the book black. If you’re wanting to make a spell book that you can continue to use, it might make sense to use making tape on the pages to protect them. This is what it looked like when I was done:



I used a little bit of the gold paint and dry-brushed it on the lettering and around the spider web design. The gold paint highlights the letters and raised portion of the design you’ve created. If you have a gold marker pen, you could do some more doodling and flourishes on the cover, too. 



And here’s my finished book! It was a lot of fun to make. I might try other designs with glue in the future and experiment with glue lettering or maybe stickers. But for now, the spell book will contain lists of all my Halloween plans! 





~ Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. When she grew up, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, writing contemporary fantasy and horror. Find the latest updates on her projects at www.laurabickle.com



4 comments:

  1. If I had this one to do over again, I would have used hot glue to write "Spells" in script on the cover. Next time! :-)

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    1. I found a deco writer's paint which might be easier than the glue gun. I'm going to get some and give it a try for things that I want to have texture. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018N9WF2/

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  3. Super cute and simple! You could easily make a whole Halloween library!

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