digital photo album

Step 1: Gather Tools and Supplies Needed

things needed
a book you don't mind destroying in the correct size
PVA glue
brown kraft paper
super glue
foamboard
double sided tape
fine nib black marker
gold card stock
parchment or other decorative paper
selection of paints
paint brushes
digital greeting card with correct screen size(can be ordered online)

Step 2: Cover Preperation

I had an old book it the size i needed but if you dont you could find a cheap one in a thrift shop.
remove inside of book. all you require is the cover the inside pages can be recycled.
I measured a piece of foam board to fit the front cover of the book to get the desired shape and using an exacto blade cut out patterns as close to the design on the original in the movie as I could. it don't have to be identical. I then stuck the foamboard to the cover using superglue . next step is recovering the book

Step 3: Re-covering the Book to Get a Leather Effect.

to achieve leather effect on the book I used brown kraft paper.

when cutting the paper leave a lot of excess to allow you to cover the back and front cover and into the crevices on the foam board pattern and fold over the corners and accounting for size difference after crumpling it up.

after cutting the amount needed you need to crumble it up very tight multiple times to cause slight damage to the paper but be careful to not rip it.

then unfold the paper to have it as flat as possible again.

mix together 2 parts PVA to one part water and saturate the paper back and front to stick it to the book cover.

leave to dry completely

Step 4: Painting the Cover

didn't take photos of this step but that is a picture of the finished result of the paint job.

for this I used acrylic paint
I wanted to achieve a red toned leather so I first coated it with burnt sienna and let it dry
I then used a fan brush with raw umber
don't put too much product onto the brush as you want to just sweep it across the paper. you don't want to full coat it.
when this dried I then went back in and mixed a bit of black with the raw umber to slightly darken it and with the same fan brush I used an even lighter hand to go around over the book to give dimension
I then went back over with different tones to select part of the cover until I reached a desired finish and effect.

when this was dry I used a small detail brush with gold paint( I used c.roberson &co liquid metal in classic gold) to detail the design onto the front. once again this does not have to be perfect just get creative.

Step 5:

the screen I used was a digital greeting card with a magnet to activate the screen to turn on and I removed it from the original card. be extremely careful the solder is very fragile and not really made to be handled
I measured out more foam board to the size of the book and thickness I needed to fill the spine.
I then used and exacto blade to cut out spaces for each of the components to fit into neatly.
I then glued these parts into place and cut a piece of paper to size to cover and hide everything except the screen. I used double sided tape to hold down around the screen as to not damage it and glued the rest down
I then went in and copied the design from the book in the movie around the screen with a fine tipped marker and detailed it with pieces of gold card stock. once again get creative at this part and don't worry if its not exactly the same or make up your own design

I then went around the edge of the foamboard with the same gold paint I used on the cover to make it look like It had a guilded edge for a neater finish

and glued it all together into the spine of the book cover
I then used another piece of stock card to line the inside of the book and overlapped onto the opposite side to hide the glue and spine

Step 6: Finished Result

I then made a slideshow to play when the book opens with the theme tune to harry potter . this was a birthday present to my partner so it also includes our song after the theme tune and is photos of the first texts we sent and other photos of special things together. customise it to the way you like. more photos can be added anytime buy connecting a micro USB to a computer so more memories can be remembers as they are made.