This week’s Once A Book project comes from the blog Atypical Type A by Alicia Parsons.

When Ms. Parsons was planning her literary themed wedding, she turned old books into these unique vases for decoration.  There’s so much I love about that whole idea, starting with the literary themed wedding. Fabulous!

Her tutorial, Make a vintage book vase, is easy to follow, requires only basic craft supplies, and makes a vase that is lovely to look at, but it is just for looks.  To make a vase that holds water and a stem or two, use a book with a spine wide enough to wrap around a small test tube or florist water tube.  Insert the tube before adhering the end pages in step 6.

As always, with Once A Book projects, if you try it, send a picture and I’ll post it here.

Resources: Once A Book, Atypical Type A, The Daily Post.

How many phone books do you get a year?

How many do you use?

When we moved into this house there were eight gigantic phone books and four small ones sitting on a closet shelf.  The shelf was sagging under the weight.  Two days after our phone service was turned on, another two or three books were delivered.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t used a phone book in years.  Everything’s online!  Maybe it’s time for those businesses trying to make a buck with their version of the Yellow Pages to rethink their business model.  Enough with the dead trees already.

On the positive side, phone books don’t have to be a complete waste.  Like any other book, they can be modified into something useful and fun.  This week’s Once A Book project turns an old phone book into a pen and pencil holder.

Chica at the ChicaAndJo.com, posted this tutorial on how to Recycle a phone book into a pen organizer. The tutorial has photos to help with the process, and although there are a lot of steps, it seems straight forward.  It’s a great way to do something useful with these dinosaurs, but if you’re feeling more ambitious (and have a lot of phone books), here’s an option.

Joking aside, the phone books are not just a nuisance in the closet.  They use too many resources: paper, ink, gas for delivery, for something that most people toss directly into recycling, or worse, the trash.  To stop delivery, visit Yellow Pages Go Green.

Resources: Once A Book, ChicaAndJo.com, Yellow Pages Go Green, The Daily Post.