"You can never be too thin, too rich, or have too many books." Vogue

I love books!   

I'm not sure I will ever own a Kindle, or Nook, but if anyone wants to hook me up with a new iPad- I won't refuse.  I like the feel of books, the smell of old books, I like looking for antique books, and displaying books.  I even read them from time to time.  There are lots of 'good books', but only one *Good Book*.  One thing I do not like about books is propping them up on the shelves in my home.  I hate a shlummpy book.  There is only one shlummpy thing allowed and that is me, in my 'baglady' dress, happily spray painting something. 

Recently a good friend installed a cool patio with pavers.  Of course, there were leftovers, mere trash to her, but treasure to me!  The great heaviness of them.....I'm thinking.....Bookends!!

If you have small children, I do not recommend that you use these anywhere that they could pull it down on their heads.  Hopefully, your 'good' books are up high enough so they cannot be mistaken for coloring books.  These bookends will put a hurtin' on ya if they hit your foot.  Other than that, they are simple to make, totally customizable, and cheap very inexpensive to make.

So, let's do this thing!

Assemble the players:

2 square stone pavers (about .70/ea)

acrylic paint (on hand, or 2/$1)

Polyacrylic topcoat (on hand, or $3/pint)

Letter 'A' and Letter 'Z'

(i got one @ thrift, one for .50 @ Michaels)

I used spray paint on the letters, b/c I have

LOTS, but you could use acrylic

Cork scrap for base

General craft adhesive

foam brushes, foam stamp, toothpicks

A day earlier, I washed off the blocks w/ the hose.

My pavers are a tan-rust color, so I used black and white paint.

I found that the stamp looks better if you use the foam brush to load the paint onto the stamp, and vary the paint color over the stamp:

Stamp the blocks, and let them dry.

Mine looked like this:

After the paint is good and dry, add the polyacrylic top coat.  Coat all sides, front and back.  I did the face and edges first, and when they dried, I coated the back, and gave the front a 2nd coat, and let it sit on an edge to finish drying.  This makes it no longer scratchy to the touch, or to the books.

This stuff is smelly, so plan to do that part outside.

One small, fussy note:

My letter 'A' was made from plywood, and when I spray painted it, it showed the grain lines through the paint.  I smoothed it with spackle, let that dry and re-sanded and re-painted it, and it looked great.

After the topcoat is fully dry- we are ready to assemble it!

Luckily, it's hot in Texas, so I set mine in the sun to dry, and it didn't take long at all. 

I used a piece of scrap felt I had to estimate the size for the cork.  My pieces were 1 1/4" x 5".  Spread a good amount of adhesive to the cork, and spread well.  I like using a plastic knife, kinda like spreading frosting!

Stick it well, and trim corners, if necessary.

Do the same for the letters, and position on the block.

If any adhesive sqwooshes out, clear it away with a toothpick.

Close up of finished block!!

And the finished pair on my daughters bookshelf!  

Awesomely cute, super-heavy to hold those books, and

inexpensive to make! 

No more shlummpy books!!  Hooray!

If you love them, and you make them, send me a pic and I will be sure to post yours as well!  I intend to try more styles and colors, and I will update as well :)   :) 

So, if you read yesterday's whiny post you know this has been a really trying week.  This was not my original project to blog, but let's just say that you can't trust Martha to bail you out on a project, and I have now moved on to *Plan C*.....but I think it's gonna be OK in the end. (fingers crossed)