My two-year old wrote on the cover of his baby book with black marker and I need ideas how to salvage it! The pages can't be removed, so I have to figure out a way to create a new cover. The cover is made out of fabric and I tried removing the ink - no luck and I ended up destroying the fabric in that area. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you.
Oh J., just write on the inside of the cover how the marker got on the front and all you did to try to remove it. Just one more memory for the book!! enjoy all those little moments. L. C.
I'd keep it to remember his 2 year old drawings/writings. Make a little not inside of age and when he did it.
I don't know how much effort you are willing to put in...the first thing that occurred to me was to sew a new cover and attach it with fabric glue. That might be kind of a big effort though, but maybe worth it. You could go for a patchwork look or even just glue fabric on top and use fabric markers...hmm...I can't think of anything else. Good luck!
How about a home made collage? Get some Modge-Podge (a craft glue available at places like Michael's) and a soft brush. Then choose some nice paper. There are some great hand made papers or papers with woodcut prints. I'd suggest getting one with less texture, otherwise the glue could collect and dry too thick and opaque. I'd also suggest instead of going with one big piece of paper to cover the whole surface that you try breaking it up and making a collage. Put one layer of glue, lay down your paper and, if you'd like put a top coat of modge-podge to plastify/protect the surface. I'd do a couple of samples before going right onto the baby book to see it you like it better with or without a sealant coat and also to familiarize yourself with how it all works.
Added ideas:
Don't be afraid of patterned paper and even mixing patterned paper with others as long as they have similar colors and values.
You could also get some scrapbooking details to add more decoration one your done.
Cut a small and solid colored piece of paper and apply it as a label on the front cover. Then you can glue down something as a border around it.
All of the above can be as demure or as crazy and gaudy as you'd like. Have fun!
I just heard that if you put white board marker over the permanent marker and then remove the white board marker like usual it will remove both. I don't know if this will work on the book. Blotting the are with rubbing alcohol is the old fashion way of removing ink. Good Luck, D. C. Mom of 4
I like Meghan's re-upholstering idea. Get some fabric from Joanne's and depending how crafty you are get the seam glue or sew yourself a new one!
Good Luck
Nat
Leave it :) you will have that to look back on and laugh at what your little artist did :) it's perfect
My daughter wrote all over the leather seats, cloth ceiling and DVD screen in my husbands mini van. He removed all traces of it with brake fluid and it didn't even hurt the DVD screen. Maybe you can salvage the cover this way.
Or could you put a decorative patch over the area that is ruined? You can find cute ones at the fabric store.
Good luck.
I wouldn't fix it. It might not look as pretty but I bet you son will laugh at it and
appreciate more than a fabric cover that you bought. The drawing represents him
at 2 years old. When I had my 1st child, I would have said fix it. I am on my 4th child
now and my thinking has changed alot. Best wishes! What ever you do is right!
You are an awesome mom for doing a book for your child and caring about how
it looks! Let us know what you decide!
HI some advise for the future: Purelle hand sanitizer takes out sharpie. I don't know why but it works.
For the baby book I would try to recover it in another fabric, and then cover the inside of the cover with poster board cut to fit almost to the edges. That will cover the overlap of the fabric and restore the book like look.
Good luck.
