DIY Little Library Newspaper Stand

I have been wanting a Little Library, aka a Neighborhood Library, for years.  Ever since I have heard of them.  I’ve seen them in random places.  Once in North Hollywood.  Another time somewhere else. I did an internet search and found out that they can be (not necessary) registered to a website, Little Free Library, and then people can search and find them.  Found out there is nine of them listed in my city.  But I happen to know about four others.  It does cost $40 to register a Little Library with their site, so some people might not want to spend the money or just don’t care.  I’m not sure yet.  But I still get lots of customers, as I see books gone and new ones that appear.  I also try to rotate my books.  Put newer ones in the front.  Funny- but I’ve noticed someone that drops off books does this too, facing the front of the book out, across the other books.  I think others like seeing books they put in here are missing.

How To Make A Little Library

There are quite a few different ways to make your own.  My friend hired someone to do it and it matches her house.  The one I have is from a old newspaper stand.  My dad bought two for $10 each on the Facebook Marketplace and cleaned them up and painted them.  Second one is at my sister’s house.  You can go basic and do something like just a raised box.  It can hold a few books or you can have, like mine, an adult and children’s section.  This one was pretty easy.  My dad just had to clean it up and paint it.  But I still wanted people not familiar with a Little Neighborhood Library to know what it is and how to use it.  

If you have absolutely no idea how to make one you can always look online.  Little Free Library has premade ones for sale (but they are not cheap).  Their larger ones are $350!  They are sold on Amazon premade too, at the same high prices.  Crazy when mine cost $10 plus paint and some elbow grease.  You can look on Amazon too.  There is a selection to choose from.  I like the book Little Free Libraries and Tiny Sheds.

I got some supplies from Circuit for a blog review and with some reading and a little help I created some stickers for the library.  I wanted it to be clear, easy to read and posted on the front and both sides.  The little library is on my property, above the retaining wall, next to the sidewalk.  So the height is perfect for people walking by.  We get a lot of kids on bikes and scooters and people going for strolls or dog walking in the evenings so I knew the library would be a success.

This was the tentative idea how how to do the stickers.  We played with the font and size more and the little yellow part on top wouldn’t stay on so we removed it.

What the stickers looked like printed.  The Cricut is something I’ve never used before.  It is a little overwhelming how much it can do too!  Stickers, iron ons, labels, etc. It can print on fabric, cardboard, plastic, glass.  Besides the instructions, if you really want to learn everything you’ll need to get on the internet.  Search Pinterest or YouTube.  Otherwise you’ll be shorting yourself on all the possibilities.  Here is a link provided by Cricut on how to use everything and some of the craft ideas.

More of the sticker ideas.

This is something a friend suggested and I loved it. The machine I received is the is a nice compact size (I would have thought it would need to be the size of a kitchen table for all it does).  The supplies I was sent are so much too!  I’ll be posting about some of the other fun things I’ve made too.

Here is the list of supplies I (gleefully) received:

• Maker.
• Everyday Iron-on.
• Vinyl.
• Cardstock.
• Leather.
• EasyPress 2 9×9, with mat.

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and still more…. Plus the Easy Press 2.

Once printed I cleaned all the sides of the library and let it dry.  That way the stickers would stick better.  I then took the vinyl stickers and applied them.  Technically this should be measured but I just eyeballed it.  I peeled off the back, applied it, then peeled off the front.

Tah-Duh! One side is completed! I already had the books inside.  Once I posted about my dad installing it on my Facebook a bunch of friends came over and dropped off boxes of books!  I had a hard time wording the ‘take a book’ part.  I didn’t want people to think they had to donate books in order to take them.  I just want to encourage reading.  So this is perfect.
The dandylion, flowers and bird coming out of the book on the other side is just what I wanted.

This is how it looks completed.  I did  like the idea of it matching the colors of my house but I couldn’t find the spare paint and didn’t want to try to match it.  I like these primary colors.  It stands out nicely too.  When I’m coming and going from the house I see people at it.  Kids, seniors, etc.  Haven’t seen who adds books to it yet but there are a lot of times that I’m not home or am inside and I’ll notice later a few new books are in it.  I do check it ever few days to tidy it up.  Fix books that have fallen over.  I have removed a few books that have been there a while without anyone checking them out.  I figure rotating the books is a good idea to have new ones in there to catch someone’s eye as they pass by.  Randomly- my neighbor about 10 houses doesn has one too that is also a newstand.  So they are very similar.  But I wasn’t copying her.  Just love the idea too.  Having free books for the neighborhood shouldn’t be competitive so as far as I see it, the more the merrier.

Little trial and error…. I didn’t realize I had to pull of BOTH sides of the clear sticker.  A friend pointed it out.  I thought it looked funny but wasn’t sure what I had done wrong.  Glad it was an easy fix.

Thinking of getting a Cricut or Silhouette and not sure what to get?  This is a great one vs other tutorial someone made on Youtube.  I love how informative it is.  She clearly knows a lot about both brands.  

Stay tuned for some other fun and exciting things I create for my household with our new Cricut Maker.  I have ideas for printing names on reusable cups, some greeting cards and some t-shirt iron-ons too!