Bubble Wrap Altered Book

If you’ve already said, “It’s one of those days…”
and your mind is becoming a big, blank haze,
and you simply do not know what to do first—
grab some bubbles and BURST! BURST! BURST!

Don’t delay this quick remedy.
It’s environmentally friendly!
It costs some time and makes some noise.
Fun for both the girls and boys.

Your friends will really be impressed.
Your home will become a veritable nest.
The doctor will notice your BP’s down.
Sunshine will spread all over this town.

Refill this book whenever there’s a need.
My advice, well you’d be smart to heed.
Don’t wait to start, won’t want to stop.
May all your troubles go POP! POP! POP!

©2009 Janice P Williams

Here are photos of the altered book I worked up as a gift you could make for that stressed-out friend. The idea of such a book is not original to me, I saw it in a craft book in our library. But the design of the book, the design of the cover, and the poem are all original to me. You can feel free to reproduce the poem if you'd like, just not for commercial means/profit.

Here is how I constructed the book:

1. I took a thin, hardcover book, and removed the pages.
2. I then covered the outside of the "case" (the hardcover of a book) with thin foam (sold in drugstores and craft stores in the kids' craft section). I glued one piece each on the front and back. For the spine, I glued a length of purchased handmade paper.
3. I used decorative paper to make a quilt-like design on the front.
4. I had some trouble getting the edges of the case to look good (the old book kept showing through and painting the edges wasn't going to work). In the end, I took an Xacto knife and cut off 1/8 inch on each edge of the cover. the gray cardboard insides of the case now showed through as the filling in my altered book "sandwich" but I like the way it looks. (see photo below)




5. After the case was decorated on the outside and the patchwork quilt-like paper was glued on, I covered the whole thing with gel medium.
6. I then affixed paper to the inside of the case, and
7. drilled holes for the stretchy gold thread that would keep the covers closed.
8. I pasted the poem (see above) on the left side and
9. put more stretchy gold thread on the right side to hold pieces of bubble wrap cut to fit the book.
   
   This makes a great gift for a friend who works in a stressful office or someone with "active" children.