Get Dents Out Of Wood

I love my new home, I really do, but I'm not so fond of the massive amount of hardwood.  Between the kids and the dog, the poor floor is already looking a bit banged up.

Last week the floor received a good size dent. The culprit?  Me.  I dropped a bowl and the edge of it landed just right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it)

So I decided to find the bright side and realized I could finally try out a pin I had seen a long time ago about getting dents out of wood.

Get Dents Out Of Wood
You Will Need:
An iron
Wet cloth or paper towel
Sad dented wood

Directions:
Wet the dent.  Apply a wet cloth or paper towel. With the iron on High apply the iron to the wet paper towel or cloth and make a circular motion, don't keep it in just one position as this might burn the surface of the towel. Make sure there is a lot of steam being generated. Do this for a few minutes and check your results. In my case I did this for about 3-5 minutes.

I followed the directions and checked the dent about every 30 seconds.  I was really worried about making things worse, but the wood seemed to be ok. And it was really cool to see the dent slowly getting smaller each time I looked. I ironed for about 4 minutes then I noticed that I was no longer getting results. 

 

It didn't fix the dent completely, but it did make a vast improvement.   It worked a lot better then I thought

The next day I noticed a dent in my coffee table.  I have no idea how it got there, but I was actually excited.  I had been wanting to try this method again on different wood.

I followed the same directions as before, ironing for about 4 minutes.  

Not only did it NOT work, but it left a lovely white arch where the iron was. 

The Verdict:  You know when a cleaning bottle says "test in a conspicuous place first?" That definitely applies to this situation.  If you decide to do this, be sure to test it in a hidden area first.

Update: A wonderful person posted the following comment: "That's because you got moisture trapped under the poly and didn't evaporate it fully around the outside of the iron where it was not as hot. You can get rid of the white fog (or lessen it at least) using a hairdryer. Be patient! It will take a long time holding it there."

I held the blow dryer on there for about 20 min and the white spot faded a lot.  Within 2 days the white mark was totally gone.  The dent remains, but at least I don't have a strange fog on there.  

Hand Sanitizer

I don't consider myself a germ freak, but I do like things to be very clean and organized and during the winter months I load the family up with soap and hand sanitizer whenever we go anywhere.

Last year I tried to make my own hand sanitizer because I get frustrated with how quickly my hands dry out with the store bought kind, plus I just like to try and make my own stuff.

DIY Hand Sanitizer.
You Will Need:
(1) 12 ounce bottle of 100% Pure Aloe Vera Gel {It must be clear and say 100% on the bottle!}
3/4 teaspoon of Tea Tree Oil
Witch Hazel

Directions:
In a glass bowl, mix Aloe Vera and Tea Tree Oil.  Then add witch hazel until you have the consistency you want your sanitizer to be

First of all, it was almost impossible to find 100% aloe vera gel.  Every store I went to had the blue kind with lidocaine in it.  I finally just ordered a bottle from Amazon. 

This particular recipe says it is alcohol free. I found other recipes that are very similar that say you can add alcohol if you want to.  I decided to put 2 Tablespoons of rubbing alcohol into my mixture.  Maybe it was a mental block, but how can it really kill off the germs without alcohol?

 I mixed everything together until I got a good gel

 Then put it into little travel size bottles. 

The verdict: Without setting up my own science lab with microscopes and petri dishes, there is no way to know if this stuff kills germs as effectively as the store bought kind but I can tell you four things about it:

It's sticky - if you have used aloe vera gel then you know what I mean.  It has a slight sticky texture until it dries and it takes longer to dry then the store bought kind.

My hands weren't as dry - they still dried out a but but it wasn't as bad as using the store bought kind

It's smelly - each of the ingredients has a strong distinct odor and when you combine them all into a bottle then look out, your sniffer will get an overload

We were healthier - It could be pure coincidence, but we used it during the whole cold/flu season last year and that was the healthiest our family has ever been.  We each got a couple minor colds but that was it.  Nothing major. 

I had planned on using it again this winter to see if we stayed healthier again, but my pregnant sniffer can't handle the smell this time around. 

Light Bulb Designs

 I saw a pin on Pinterest a few weeks back about drawing on a light bulb with a sharpie.  When I clicked on the post there weren't really any directions other then if you draw on a light bulb with a sharpie then the designs will show up on the walls.

I immediately thought of the scene in Mermaids where the kids and Lou paint a room to look like the bottom of the ocean and have fish 'swimming' around the walls.

How cool would it be for my son to have star and planet shadows around his room!?!?!

I grabbed a regular bulb

 and used my mad artistic skills to draw some stars and planets

 The Verdict: Nothing. I had to put  the bulb right next to the wall to get even a hint of shadow.  But I wasn't entirely disappointed.  The bulb looked pretty cool with the shade off, so I decided to keep it that way.

As I was putting the lamp back on the nighstand, without the shade, my daughter walked in and had this reaction......

The bulb is now in a cealing socket in another room and shade has been placed back on the lamp. 

No More Squeaky Hinges

One of the first blog posts I did was a DIY lotion that didn't turn out so well.  My sister-in-law suggested I try it as a lubricant for squeaky hinges.  I thought that was so funny and not a typical use for lotion I just had to try it.

I had the perfect squeaky door to test this on.  I rubbed some of the lotion on both sides of the hinge then I opened and closed the door several times. 

 I put a rag under the hinges in case it dripped and I let it sit for 10 minutes.  I came back, opened and closed the door a few more times to make sure the lotion was getting in the hinge then I used an old rag to wipe it all off.

The Verdict: A year later and there is still no squeak on that door.  It worked so well! It was easy to clean up and didn't leave any residue.

This got me curious of course.  Would any lotion work?  Or just ridiculously greasy lotion?  So I found a regular store bought lotion and I found another squeaky door and tested the regular lotion.

The Verdict: It worked a little bit, enough to notice a difference, but the door still squeaked.

So then I got some coconut oil and tried another door (3 squeaky doors in one house, you think I would have taken care of that as soon as we moved in)

The Verdict: The coconut oil worked just as well as the DIY lotion. 

So there you go.  If you have a squeaky door and don't have any WD-40, try oil. 

Water Blob

 This one has been on my 'To Do' list all summer, so naturally I procrastinated and waited until the end of summer which means we wouldn't get much of a chance to use it if it worked.  Story of my life these day.

Water Blob
You Will Need:

Painter's plastic/plastic sheeting

Ironing board and iron

Parchment paper

Duct tape - optional, for sealing the hole for the hose

 

Directions:

Turn your iron on to its hottest setting. Keep your ironing board flat on the floor so that the weight of the plastic didn't cause any cooperation issues.  Roll out your plastic in your largest room, and fold it in half - to the size you want your water blob.  Cut a 2-feet long piece of parchment paper.  Fold it in half, length-wise and draw a line about 2-inches out from the fold. This will be your guide of how far into iron. Open up your parchment and place your plastic inside, aligning it to the fold of the parchment. Then, fold the parchment back over. Now, use your hot iron to slowly melt the plastic together by running the iron across the line of your parchment. Do not let the iron touch the bare plastic - it will melt a hole in it, and will make a huge mess all over your iron!  Press firmly, but not too hard - because the plastic is hot, it will stretch. You don't want to weaken the plastic by thinning it out with too much pressure.  Less is more. You can always re-melt the plastic it did not completely seal!  Let it cool for a few seconds before removing the parchment. If you remove the parchment too early - you could risk stretching the plastic. (You could alternate two pieces of parchment, let one cool while the other seals)  Continue to seal all of the edges, overlapping a few inches to make sure there are no holes. Now, carefully cut a small slit in the folded end of the plastic, near the corner. Place the hose in a few feet, and prop the corner up so that the water does spill out while you fill your water blob.  Seal off the hole with a piece of duct tape - or use your iron and parchment to melt the edge! I opted for duct tape because I plan on using it again a few times.  Then let the kids go wild!

If you tuned out after the first sentence because it was beyond confusing then don't worry, if you go to the original post you will find photos with each step that are helpful.  I'm just here to tell you what I thought about the outcome, not the step by step process, that would be to much work. :)

The picture I took of my plastic disappeared.  I blame the little girl who got a hold of my phone and took 3,000 photos of her toe. 

But it was very similar to this one and cost about $2

 I got everything set up, turned on Micheal Buble and started to iron away.  (Some how writing iron away just got the song Titanium in my head "iron fire away, fire away.  I'm so sleep deprived right now)

 I slid the iron across the parchment paper going fairly slow, and ended up with this.  Whoops.

 So I slid the iron across the parchment paper faster and had much better results. 

 Using two parchment papers made it a lot easier.  It took me about 20 minutes to finish the whole thing. 

 Instead of ironing all the way to the edge, I left a little spot open so I could get the hose in.

 I dragged it outside, spread it on a flat surface and stuck the hose it. The hose cooperated for awhile but eventually I had to just hold it it place.

 It took about 20 minutes to fill up to a point where I was comfortable with.  I was afraid that if I did anymore it would pop to easily. 

While holding the hole with one hand, some how I magically used the other hand to get a piece of duct tape and seal the hole up.

The Verdict:  I was very impressed with how well it held up from the ironing.  I was positive that I would have at least one hole some place. 

I had the kids crawl across it initially, just to see how well it held up before I would let them roll around it, and something interesting happened.  Everywhere my son's hands and knees hit, they left a hole.  I have two theory's as to why this happened. 1) There is a weight limit to the plastic and he was over that weight. 2) My son is secretly Spider Man and has tiny little grippers all over his hands and knees.  

But here is what really surprised me.  The plastic had about 8 holes in it and was still in the same shape.  The water wasn't leaking out. 

I was expecting an America's Funniest Videos moment where the water blob broke and the kids went shooting across the the lawn with the water, nope.  The water just stayed put. 

So the kids water blob turned into a huge puddle.  They spent 20 minutes running across it, jumping on it,  rolling around the plastic and having a wonderful time getting very wet. 

 Eventually the blob did lose all it's water and we ended up with this.

 So it didn't work, but the kids had a blast, so I guess it's sort of a pass and fail, it's a pail. 

Listerine Foot Soak

Many moons ago I saw a Pin about a Listerine foot soak.  Since then I've heard a few people saying that they love it.

I wanted to wait until my feet were really dry and cracked before I tried it, but summer is coming to an end and my feet are still in good shape. 

No, I'm not blessed with wonderfully self healing feet,  I mow the lawn in flip flops each week (I live life on the edge), and the only way to get the green stain off is to scrub my feet with a pumice stone. 

I've decided to finally bite the bullet and see how it works.

There are two different soaks I've seen on Pinterest so I tried them both, one on each foot.

Listerine and Vinegar Soak
You Will Need:
1/4 cup Listerine
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup warm water

Directions:
Soak your feet for 10 minutes and when you take them out the dead skin will practically wipe off.  

Listerine and Shaving Cream Soak
 You Will Need:
Shaving Cream
Listerine
Warm water

Directions:
In a bucket, combine equal parts Listerine and warm water.  Soak a towel in the mixture.  Cover your foot with the shaving cream then wrap the soaked towel around your foot. Soak your foot for 30 min then use the towel to rub everything off.  

 Apparently any Listerine will work, but the blue kind is the most popular.  So I grabbed some of that then started with the Listerine and vinegar soak on my right foot.

I had to double the recipe to get it deep enough to cover most of my foot, and I wish I grabbed a bigger bowl.  My toes were cramping by the end of the 10 minutes.

The Verdict: The bad news is, it stained my skin a light blue.  It's hard to see in the photo but if you look closely you can see my toes on my right foot look a bit sickly, but it was gone by the next morning.

The good news is, it worked pretty good.  My foot was really soft and most of the dry dead skin came off. 

Before

After

Eventually I stopped admiring my right foot and started on the left with the Listerine and shaving cream soak.  

I got the cheapest shaving cream I could find and slathered it on my foot.  

I wrapped the soaked towel around my foot and sat back to relax for 30 minutes. 

I got all cozy then reached for my book, which was still across the room where I left it. Crap!

No problem, I'll read the book I have on my Kindle.... which I left on the counter by the fridge. Dang It!!

I was pretty annoyed at myself for not being more prepared, then I spied the TV remote a few feet from me.  I did an awesome scoot shuffle maneuver to reach it then enjoyed this while I soaked.

The Verdict: About 10 years ago I got hypothermia, it's a long story.  I thought I was cold then, but that as NOTHING compared to the cold my foot experienced.  As the menthol slowly seeped into my skin my foot got colder and colder.  I made it 25 minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore, but I quickly realized I couldn't do anything about it.  The cold I was experiencing was coming from the core of my foot where the menthol had set up camp.  My foot was burning cold for an hour.

But it worked, beauty is pain right?

 Overall Verdict: The shaving cream soak took more dead skin off then the vinegar soak, but it's not worth losing a limb over.  I'll be sticking with the vinegar soak. 

Reusable Paper Towels

I once saw reusable paper towels on Etsy and was very intrigued by them.  I liked the idea of having paper towels that I could use over and over again.  What I wasn't intrigued by was the price.  I'm cheap (hence all the DIY projects)

Several months later I just happen to come across a tutorial for making your own.

Reusable Paper Towels
You Will Need

Supplies (for one towel)

Basic sewing supplies

Cotton print, 11.5 x 11.5  

Terry cloth, 11.5 x 11.5

Plastic snaps and the assembly/installation tools

Coordinating thread 

and old paper towel tube

Directions:
Instead of putting a whole list of instructions that will make no sense, I suggest just going to the original website.  It has a very useful step by step guide with photos. 

I didn't like the idea of snaps.  I wanted to be able to quickly grab one of the towels, and not have to stop and fiddle with two snaps (yes, I'm that lazy)  So I decided to try Velcro instead.  I couldn't figure how to sew the Velcro on so I super glued it, accepting that it would probably fall off.

I got all my materials and got to work. I did half of them with terry cloth and half with an old garage towel.  I'll tell you right now, I prefer the ones with the old garage towel because it soaks up liquid faster.

My husband saw me actually using the sewing machine and asked what I was doing. I told him all about my fantastic reusable paper towels and the following conversation took place.

Him; "Sooooo, their washcloths."
Me; "No, they are cute cloths that we will have on the counter that we can use just like paper towels."
Him: "Sooooo, cute washcloths on the counter."
Me; "Ok fine Captain Obvious, they are cute washcloths that will sit on the counter."
Him; "Thank you, once again I am right."

Welcome to my marriage folks.

The Verdict: I have horrible sewing skills, but these were easy to make and not very time consuming.  The Velcro worked great (at first) and the towels rolled up on the tube with no problem. I started out with 6 then eventually made another 6.  12 seems to be a good amount.  There has only been a few times when I've gone through the whole roll before washing them.

 

 I've been using them for 6 months and love them.  Because I have the mentality that they are "paper towels" I use them on everything and don't care if they stain.  I've used them on things like getting chocolate frosting off the floor, and scrubbing paint off the table.   

 My favorite use for them is scrubbing the kids after dinner.  I love being able to grab a clean cloth and toss it at them.  And because it's cloth, it's a whole lot more durable then a paper towel. 

They aren't as cute as they use to be.  After about a month all the Velcro came off, which means they don't stay on the paper towel roll as nicely.  Some of the threading is starting to wear and the white terry cloth is mostly gray at this point, but you can't see it when it's all rolled up. Even though they are frumpy looking now I still love them and plan on using them until they disintegrate. 

Fruit Fly Trap

I'm a bit of a fruit fanatic.  I always have fresh fruit in the house and I could live off of just that, but alas, I still need those greens to keep my motor running.

Of course the fresh fruit attracts fruit flies by the thousands and of course they decide to take up permanent resident near the fruit bowl.

I kept seeing those wasp traps made out of a two liter bottle then one day I saw that you can do the same thing for fruit flies, you just change the bait. 

Bring it on bugs....

I forgot to tag the blog post I used so I can't find it, but this one gives you pretty much the same idea.

Fly Trap
You Will Need:
2 liter soda bottle
scissors
bait

Directions:
Cut the top off your soda bottle, just below the tapered neck. Remove the soda cap, turn the top upside down and place it inside the bottom of the bottle. Put the bait in the bottom of the bottle. 

The bait you use will depend on what you are trying to catch, but I kept seeing a common theme of  watered down jam.  The sweet smell should attract the flies/wasps then they should drown in the water. 

I used the 2 litre bottle I had after making the 4th of July drinks. I cut the top of the bottle off and it sat in the bottom perfectly with no seams around the edge.  I mixed enough water into the jam to make it liquid then set the bottle next to the fruit bowl.

The Verdict: Either those flies are smarter then I give them credit for, or this trap is a big dud.  I left it there for 5 days and not one fly went into that bottle.  Even when I covered the fruit bowl the flies still figured out a way to get past the seal and attack my bananas instead of going into the bottle.

I decided to try again with a different bait so I put the bottle outside on the porch and planned on cleaning it out later that day. About 5 hours later I went to get it and found this

 Apparently those flies are smart.  It looks like they only went into the bottle when it was the only option of food.  Once I saw this I decided to try a whole new method.  Stay tuned......

DIY Febreze

Over the last several months I have had many inquires about homemade Febreze and my answer was always the same "I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list." I was planning on testing it eventually, but it wasn't a big priority. 

Last week when my younger sister asked about homemade Febreze she apparently didn't approve of my response because about 20 minutes later I got a text from her telling me that she just made her own and what she thought of it. 

So this blog post is courtesy of my younger sister, Pig.  Why do I call her Pig?  I have no idea, but that's been her nickname for the last 20+ years.

Homemade Febreze
You Will Need:
1/8 Cup of Your Favorite Fabric Softener
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
Hot Tap Water - enough to fill the bottle (Pig used a 16 oz bottle)

Directions:
Pour all the ingredients into a spray bottle and shake until well mixed.  Spray onto any fabric surface. 

Looking around the Internet I have found many variations of this recipe so it looks like you could play around with the amount of ingredients until you get a combination that works for you.

Pig, mixed her ingredients together then used the spray on her couches

Disclaimer: Neither of us use store bought Febreze so we can't tell you how it compares,  all I can give you is her opinion of the homemade stuff. 

The Verdict: Pig said "My couches, the whole living room, smells super yummy." It didn't last long though.  Pig said by that evening the smell was completely gone and her couches smelt the same as they always do. 

Even though it was short lived, Pig's son enjoyed the smell while it lasted.  

Pepe Le Pew

My dog was in the backyard when very suddenly he started barking madly. I went outside, called for him and saw him crawl out from under the shed.  Not a good sign.  I walked towards him and was punched in the face by skunk odor. A really bad sign.  I bent over, smelled my dogs head and for the first time in my life was overwhelmingly grateful for a head cold.  I don't even want to know how bad the smell would have been with out a stuffy nose. 

At this point I'm sure your thinking "tomato juice"  But believe it or not, that method doesn't work so well. How do I know this you ask?

Meet Butch, my pet skunk. I was his mamma for a few months and he was very sweet to me, but one day the dog jumped at him and the little guy didn't have very good aim so my arm became the victim instead of the dog. 

 Notice my "truck stop" shirt? I was pretty glamorous back then.

Knowing tomato juice doesn't work very well and that dog fur is different from human skin I headed to the Internet. Several websites said using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide was the best combo

De Skunk a Dog
You Will Need:
Plastic container
1 quart hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tsp of liquid soap
disposable gloves to protect your hands from the smell
old clothes to wear in case the scent gets on you

Directions:
Mix the peroxide, soda and soap then immediately apply it to DRY fur.  Skunk goo is oil based, so if you get your dog wet you will only succeed in making the dog more smelly. Rub the solution into your dogs fur until the fur is wet. Allow the solution to sit on your dog for 5 minutes.  Rinse your dog and repeat if necessary. 

I tied my dog to the back porch then I slathered the mixture all over him, focusing on his head.  He's 40lbs and this mixture was enough to cover everything but his belly.  As we were waiting the 5 minutes I realized that I was in the middle of a DIY and I grabbed my camera. 

The Verdict: there was still a slight smell on  him but by the time he was dry it was gone.  This was easy and effective and and it didn't seem to irritate my dogs skin at all.

 You think I would have been really annoyed at this, but actually I was grateful, grateful that it was the dog and not one of my kids that found the skunk. 

Gel Air Freshener

So far I'm 0 for 2 with making my own air freshener. Let's hope that I can redeem myself by trying a homemade gel air freshener.

Gel Air Freshener
You Will Need:
plain, unflavored gelatin or pectin
water for preparing gelatin
food coloring (optional, just for added flair)
essential oils
small glass jars or bowls  (I filled three with 2 cups of finished gelatin)
1 tablespoon salt (prevents mold)

Directions:
To make this, place 1-2 drops of food coloring in each of your glass jars or bowls, and then prepare the gelatin according to the package directions, adding the salt during boiling. Once the gelatin has dissolved in the water and it's ready to set, add 20-30 drops of essential oil and mix. Then pour into your individual containers and mix with the food coloring.  Check the strength of the smell at this time and add more oil if necessary.

I wanted to try three different scents so I grabbed Lavender essential oil, then I grabbed Eucalyptus and Citrus fragrance oils.  

 I followed the instructions and I put 20 drops of each oil into the glasses. The scent was pretty strong so I figured the 20 drops was plenty.  For some reason my gelatin rebelled and didn't want to set up when it was suppose to.  It took 24 hours before it finally turned into a gel.  I have no idea why.  It was just trying to annoy me I guess, it worked.

 Each glass was assigned a bathroom (each bathroom is roughly the same size) and I started the countdown to see how long the scent would last from each jar.

The Verdict: The citrus oil pooped out after 3 hours.  Even if my nose was in the glass I couldn't smell anything.  The lavender made it 9 days before it called it quits.  The eucalyptus made it a full 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, I don't know if it's the type of oil or the scent that made the eucalyptus out last the others.

By the time I took the eucalyptus out of the bathroom it was looking pretty depleted.  The gel was mostly evaporated (I didn't know gel did that) and it had left a green gooey funk around the edge of the glass.  It washed off very easily though. 

 Even though some of the scents didn't last long and if you try this you will have to experiment to find the right oil and scent to make it worth your while, I'm calling this a success, mostly because I don't want to be 0 for 3

Book Safe

When I was younger I had a strange obsession with catalogs.  I would hide them in my bed and look at every picture in each catalog before going to sleep.  While most girls my age were reading The Babysitters Club, I was checking out what new erasers Oriental Trading was selling. One day I saw a picture of a book safe.  It was a book you could hide on your book shelf, but instead of pages there was a secret door that you could hide things in. 

I thought it was the most incredible thing and HAD to have one.  So I saved my pennies, filled out the card and waited the 6-8 weeks for that book to arrive in the mail. Needless to say, when that book safe arrived I was pretty disappointed.  My super sweet mysterious book turned out to be a pathetic looking piece of plastic that had no resemblance to a book. 

Recently, when I saw a Pin about making my own book safe I knew I had to do it.  Not because I was planning on actually hiding things in it, but I needed to finally have my cool book safe so I could close the chapter on that part of my life (pun intended).

DIY Book Safe
You Will Need:
Hardcover book
Glue
Paint brush
Wax paper
Xacto knife 
Metal ruler

Directions:
Lay the pages on any wax paper-lined surface with an edge. Pin the first few pages of the book to the front and rear covers and weigh the rest of the pages down so they don’t move. Mix some glue and water together. I used about a 4:1 ratio of wood glue to water (if you’re making one book, you should mix one tablespoon of glue with 3/4 teaspoon of water). Glue the outer edges of the pages together with a brush to ensure that the pages don’t move when you cut them out later on.When you’ve put on a thick coat, unclip the covers and let the rear cover hang off the edge. Place some wax paper between the clean pages/front cover and the glued pages to separate them. Weigh down the book so the wet pages don’t wrinkle and swell.After a couple of hours, put on a second coat of glue and let it dry overnight. Don’t throw the wax paper away after this step. You’ll use it later on. The glue dries pretty clear and should hold the pages firmly.  To cut out the cavity, use a metal ruler to make straight cuts with an Xacto knife. Buy extra blades; it’s worth it. After you’ve cut fifty pages or so, you can stop using the ruler. This is tedious work, but you have to be patient and take your time or else the cuts will become uneven and angled. Go into this step knowing it’ll take about forty-five minutes to finish.  When you get near the bottom cover, insert a sheet pan or something else you don’t mind scraping up between the pages and the back cover. This is to keep the inside of your book nice and neat. Once the cavity is cut out and you’ve cleaned up the edges with your Xacto knife, it’s time to glue again. Mix another batch of the glue/water mixture. Put your book back on the wax paper with the bottom cover hanging over the edge. Brush the glue all over the inner pages. If you glued the back cover to the pages now, the excess glue would pool inside your safe. The glue will hide most of your imperfections when it dries. Put on a thick coat and place the wax paper between the glued pages and the clean pages/front cover. Let it dry overnight under a heavy weight, just like before. The next day, all you have to do is glue the back cover to the glued pages and glue the first clean page over the cavity to hide your errant cuts. Weigh the book down again and let the glue dry for a few hours. When the glue is dry, cut the top page to reveal the cavity

I searched my book collection and found one that I knew I wouldn't be reading again.

I pinned the front and back cover together and included the first few pages of the book.

 I mixed some Elmer's glue and water and painted it all over the edges

 I undid the clip that was holding the covers together, put some wax paper all around the glued areas then put a box of china on top of the book.  It was the heaviest thing I could find.

 A few hours later I put a second coat of glue on, then I let it sit over night.

 Using a metal ruler as a guide I started to cut away at the pages.  I was able to cut through about 10 pages at a time.  After about 50 pages I stopped using the ruler because it was deep enough that the previous cut papers could be a guide.

So I cut, then cut, cut some more, cursed, screamed, cried and wondered why in the world I was doing this. 

The Verdict: This took me many, many hours over the course of 3 days.  The deeper I got the harder it was to get the razor in and the harder it was to cut straight lines. Part of the problem could be that I had a thick utility razor instead of an Xacto knife. But it was also harder to get my fingers around the cut edges to pull the pages out.

About halfway through, this book started to put up such a huge fight that I'm pretty sure I saw the face of Tom Riddle laughing at me. 

The edges started to fray really bad and I eventually got so annoyed at them that I got a lighter and burned them away so by the time I was done I was left with a pretty unappealing mess. 

 

On the bright side, the outside of the book looks perfectly normal.  Can you guess which one it is?

 So what did I learn from all this?  Use a thin book.  Around page 300 is when things went from simple to hard, my book was about 700 pages.