Baseball bookends

You’ll Need

• 2 pieces of wood cut to 3.5 inches by 6.5 inches (9 cm by 16.5 cm)
• 2 pieces of wood cut to 3.5 inches by 4 inches (9 cm by 10 cm)
• adjustable clamps
• carpenter’s glue
• paintbrush
• assorted vintage baseball themed graphics (search online)
• matte Modge-Podge
• 2 softballs

1. Run a thin bead of carpenter’s glue along one edge of a shorter wood piece and glue to the flat side of a long piece along the bottom to form an L. Clamp and let glue dry. Repeat with the other two wood pieces.

2. Collect and cut out assorted baseball-themed pictures from old programs, tickets, sports magazines or from the Internet. A variety of shapes and sizes will work well for this project.

3. Using a paintbrush, coat the back of each image with a thin layer of glue and make a collage by overlapping corners or edges of your images onto the wood frame. Press them into place on the front, back and edges of your bookends until the frame has been completely covered with pictures. Let dry.

4. Paint one coat of matte Modge- Podge over the entire bookend. Let dry.

5. On a softball, dab a small dot of glue in the centre of the bottom and the centre of one side. Place the ball on the bookend so the glue on the bottom rests on the bottom of the L and the glued side touches the outside front of the bookend. Clamp ball to frame and let glue dry.

Originally published in ParentsCanada magazine, June/July 2014.