The Nom Monster (A Tutorial)

I never did get to tell you guys about my pride and joy, my favorite wedding detail, the one, the only (um, or not) NOM MONSTER (nom, nom, nom, nom, nom)!

 Personal Photo

I love him.  I love him so much.

I got the idea for him from the infamous Nom Monster of OffbeatBride:

 At first, I was planning on doing mine very similar to this one.  However, I'd also seen card boxes like this:

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I couldn't quite get the idea of doing a book with a "secret" compartment for cards out of my head, especially since reading is such a big part of Daniel's and my relationship, and it hadn't been reflected in our wedding much.  At first, I thought I'd combine the two by slapping some book covers on a mailbox, but then it occurred to me:  why not make a nom monster out of a book?

I've always wanted a book with a secret compartment (and while we're on the subject, I've always wanted one of those book cases where you pull out a book, and the wall turns to reveal a secret room.  Why yes, I do spend too much time reading fantasy novels, how did you know?), so I sat down to make one.

In retrospect, this is one of the wedding details I probably should have let go, or at least done differently.  I could easily have bought a book with a secret compartment instead of making one, and it would have saved me hours and hours of work.  Nonetheless, I do enjoy having it, and I've always wanted to make one myself.  At least I got to cross something off the bucket list.  Besides, it's way cooler if it's a real book.

For the most part, I followed this tutorial to make the secret compartment book.  The only thing I would suggest you do differently is not to bother with drilling holes.  They really did not help.

The hardest part of that was cutting in a straight line so that you don't end up with bits of page that don't get cut off.  If you're going to do this, push down on the pages that you're cutting to help keep them still, and try hard to cut along the previous line you cut.  Going slow can save you a lot of time in the long run.  Also, if you mess up, don't worry too much about it.  No one's actually going to notice.

Once the pages were cut, I had to monsterify the book.  This took some thinking.  I knew I wanted to cover it with felt so that it would look kind of like the Monster Book of Monsters, but how to attach it?  I could glue it, but trying to get it to cover the edges and stay seemed problematic.  Plus, I kind of wanted to be able to use the book as a normal-looking book after the wedding, the kind you can actually hide stuff in.  And then it hit me.  You know those book covers you had to make in middle school?  No, your teachers didn't make you do them?  Lucky.  Well, I had to, and that's what I did for my nom monster.

I took a large piece of black felt and folded down the edges so that the felt was just taller than the book.

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That didn't stay at all, so I ironed it down.

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Be careful ironing felt.  You're not really supposed to, I think.  Do it quick, just a little pat will keep it down well enough.

Then I slipped the folded-over edges over the edges of the covers and pulled them down so that the cover was tight while the book was closed.  I also glued the top flap of fabric to the flap attached to the book so that it would stay better.

And voila, a book cover!

Then, I got some googly eyes and glued them to the cover.

Yep, You Guessed It, Personal Photo

And I got a piece of red felt and cut out a tongue and glued it to the underside of the front cover.

What Do You Think?

I used a stiff piece of white felt for the teeth, so they would stay straight.  I cut out triangles and glued them to the front edges of the covers.

I Think We All Know By Now This Is a Personal Photo

I got large, furry pipe cleaners for the arms and glued them to the space between the felt flaps on the front cover.  Then, I printed out the "Give me your cards!  Nom nom nom!" sign on card stock, cut it out, and glued it to a popsicle stick and curled one of the arms around it so that the nom monster would be holding the sign.

And then my beautiful nom monster had grown into a fully grown terror of cuteness!

Personal Photos, Blah Blah Blah

He was a ton of work, but I love him, so it was worth it.

Ain't he cute?  What project are you proudest of for your wedding?