Board games are a pain to store- and really ugly too! I thought I’d put them into book boxes so that they look beautiful. This is a simple craft that would be perfect for a girl’s night and would make a great gift too! Here’s my tutorial on how to turn board games into display books- simple version.
board games into display books- simple
Let’s jump into the tutorial on the board game makeover!
If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on YouTube here. It’d mean so much if you’d watch the video! I’m trying to get better at my video skills so I can grow my YouTube channel. If you have a few minutes to watch this and/or subscribe, I’d so appreciate it.
SUPPLIES
- Free Board Game Book Covers
- Cricut Joy Xtra
- Iron-On Vinyl
- Easy Press Mini or Easy Press (the larger size is nice on the big books)
- Cricut Tool Set
- Linen Book Boxes
- Heat Resistant Tape
Inspiration
Why are board games so ugly to display?! And in such a variety of box sizes? There’s no uniform size and I don’t like that! It makes board game storage tricky. So as a solution to my problem, I started turning board games into books. Here’s the original tutorial. It’s more complicated because I also dye the book boxes.
I love how they look really pretty on the shelf! I have a combination of book boxes I’ve made and store bought Vintage Bookshelf Games. Personally, I like to buy those when a board for the game is involved. They aren’t available for every game and are expensive, so it’s good to make your own too.
Not everyone wants the board game books to be colorful and/or I thought I’d share a simplified version if you want to make these but don’t want to spend a lot of time creating them.
And how this project came to life. Here’s the tutorial-
step 1- download the FREE board game covers
If you want to use the designs I came up with, I have them available as a free download.
To download the game covers, just put your name and email in the form below. You’ll get an email right away with how to download. Plus you’ll be subscribed to my weekly newsletter! If you’re already subscribed, go here to download.
Note, the game covers are for personal use only and are not to be sold or disturbed in any way.
If you don’t get an immediate email after filling out your information above, check you junk, spam or promotions folder. If you still don’t see it, send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll get it fixed for you asap.
Download the board game covers and spine images that you want to create.
label sizes
The linen book boxes that are the starting point for this DIY come in a small, medium, and large. Here are the label sizes and what games (in my experience) fit in each box-
Small– 4″x6″ (cover) 1″x6″ (spine). Games that fit- Phase 10, Playing Cards, Exploding Kittens, Pass the Pigs, Go Fish
Medium– 6″x8-1/2″ (cover) 1-1/2″x8-1/2″ (spine). Games that fit- Uno, Dominoes, Yahtzee, Head Bandz, Bananagrams, Trouble (travel edition)
Large– 8″x11″ (cover) 2″x11″ (spine). Games that fit- Rummikub, Barbie Game, Pictionary, Sorry, Jenga, Sequence, Trivial Pursuit, Qwirkle, Battleship
Note, all these game labels are included in the free downloads above. These are for personal use only.
step 2- upload the book cover design
Now that the designs are downloaded, it’s time to use Design Space (Cricut’s software) to cut the covers for the board games.
Open Cricut Design space and start a new project. Click upload and choose your game board design.
On the background remover screen, click on the background section of the book cover- anything that is negative space. Make sure to click on the inside of letters like A, B, D, O, P, Q, and R. When done, slide over the button that says “Preview Single Layer” to confirm all the negative space was selected.
When happy with the background, push “apply and continue.”
The next page will show the options to convert the upload. Select “Single Layer” and then click “Continue.”
Next, the page shows the image details. Don’t change anything, just click “Upload.”
This brings the image onto the canvas.
Follow the same steps to repeat the upload process for the spine of the game board book box as well.
Make sure the size is the correct for both the cover and spine. To make them the correct size, change the height and width under size (see below for the size). When that size is correct, click the “make it” button in the top right hand corner.
Correct sizes when using the linen book boxes–
- Small– 4″x6″ (cover) 1″x6″ (spine)
- Medium– 6″x8-1/2″ (cover) 1-1/2″x8-1/2″ (spine)
- Large– 8″x11″ (cover) 2″x11″ (spine)
step 3- cut the vinyl for the book cover
Choose how the material will load. Choose “on mat.” (unless using smart materials)
Next, you review the artwork. There is where it’s really important to mirror the design since it’ll be ironed on (to do that, click the circle under the word “Mirror.” Look at how much space the image takes on the mat so the vinyl can be cut to the correct size.
For the medium size book box, I cut the vinyl 9″ long.
Then you set the base material on the laptop. There’s a short list of the most popular items. If what I’m using isn’t on that list, I click “browse all materials” to find what I’m using.
Put the iron-on vinyl shiny side down on the mat.
Next, load the material and press go! The machine takes it from there and cuts the design.
When the cut is finished, push unload.
step 4- weed the book covers
Since the book cover is now cut, it’s time to weed out the design and then it to the book boxes.
To prep the material, take the weeder tool and remove the excess vinyl or iron-on from the cut material.
For the next thing, you want to MAKE sure to double check what is the front and back of the book. That way you can place the cover right sides up on the front. I know this sounds like a silly step, but speaking from experience, it’s needed. Especially since the front and back of the box look the same, but the back section is attached to the “pages.”
Then, take the vinyl cover and place it on top of the book. Make SURE to line up the cover so that it is parallel to the book box.
On the spine, it’s really easy for the iron-on to get crooked. So I make sure to use heat resistant tape to keep in in place during the next step.
step 5- iron-on the cover
For the books I’m adding iron-on, I took my Easy Press and set it to 265 degrees, I put a piece of cotton fabric over the iron-on, and pressed the Easy Press onto each section of the book for 30 seconds.
While the plastic is still warm, lift it off slowly making sure the vinyl is properly adhered to the book. If it isn’t put the plastic back on, cover with fabric, and apply the Easy Press again. Repeat until the vinyl is ironed onto the book.
Continue the same steps above with applying the vinyl onto the spine.
Step 6-put board games in boxes
Finally, put the board games in the boxes. For most of the games, this is an easy step of transferring the contents from the old box to the new book box.
When transferring board games with long boards, it means cutting down the board. For this, we looked at a board in one of the Vintage Bookshelf board games. We used Clue. It’s folded in 1/3rds so we copied how that’s cut and folded.
We first cut a long cut down 2/3rds of the middle. Then for each of those sections, we scored two lines so the board to fold there. One of them we cut and taped with book binding tape. But just scoring (cutting the board 1/2 way through) on that section so it can fold is better
To cut the board, use a ruler and a utility knife or exact knife. Put a cutting mat underneath so the table doesn’t get cut.
The result is a board game that can fold much smaller!
It doesn’t look as pretty on the back. Though, if we would’ve scored that cut we wouldn’t have needed the tape and it would’ve looked better.
But, when the game is open, it looks good and is great for playing!
Plus, now the game can fit in a more compact, pretty box!
after
And here are the finished books. The gold vinyl looks so pretty!
I think this is such a classy look and that these would look gorgeous in any house!
My dream with my life is to make everything pretty AND functional. I want to play games and I want the board games to look nice while they’re stored.
One big benefit to making over board games is that when they’re on a shelf and not in a closet, they get played more!
price breakdown
For this project, the biggest expense is the Linen Book Boxes. I bought one set of three books for $28. I also bought the Iron-on Vinyl for $10. Everything else I had on hand. So that’s $38 for three board game books. Less than $10 per game- which I think is a good price!
If a cutting machine and materials are needed for this project, that’d be about $250 more.
So there’s how to turn board games to display books. I hope this project inspires you. And helps you when making something with a cutting machine for your house! Please let me know in the comments if you have questions.
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments. I have a Instagram Highlight where I answer lots of question on this project. I want you to be successful at making these, so please contact me if you have issues.
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