"Today Happens Only Once" Minibook Tutorial

"Today Happens Only Once" Minibook
designed by Susan Tidwell

This is one of the projects I created for my LBH Media Team assignment this month and is being featured over on the LBH blog today.  It's a minibook  using the fabulous "Playful" paper line from Authentique. The fun color palette of orange, turquoise, navy and gray make these papers perfect for summer projects!

This mini "squash" book (4" x 4") is also called a "dragon" book because of it's meandering folds. It can be made larger as well - you just need to start with three square base pages whatever size you desire.

So here's the tutorial!

Supply List

(2) 4"x4" pieces of corrugated cardboard

(3) 8"x8" cardstock (I used navy)

(1) sheet Authentique "Playful" Components (cardstock diecut embellishments)

(1) sheet Authentique "Playful" Enhancements (journal cards)

(1) Authentique "Playful" - Hoopla (plaid)

(1) Authentique "Playful" - Elate (hearts)

(1) Authentique "Playful" - Accompany (ampersands)

(1) Authentique "Playful" - Foundation (solid, orange/teal)

(1) pkg. Queen & Co. "Checkers" (orange gingham "button" stickers)

1/2 yard blue and white baker's twine

2" red satin ribbon

5" thin orange twine

blue ink - Quick Quotes Chalk Ink "Blue Moon"

coral ink - Distress Ink "Abandoned Coral"

2 small pieces velcro

liquid adhesive or tape runner or Scor tape

Glossy Accents

white Uniball Signo gel pen

1/8 or 1/16" hole punch

Scoring tool and bone folder

scrap of washi tape

optional: star and heart punches, stapler

Instructions

1. Score and fold each square piece of yardstick in half. Open up and score and fold in half in the other direction. This will make a cross ( + ) on each sheet.  Score and fold each sheet once again but diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner.

2.  Grasp the corners with the diagonal folds and push the diagonals in to collapse the sheet into a square. Press all folds well. Repeat for all three.

3. Unfold the squares and adhere together overlapping the lower right quadrant of the first piece with the upper left quadrant of the second piece. Repeat with the third piece, gluing the upper left quadrant to the lower right quadrant of the second piece. When all three pieces have been attached, collapse/"squash" into a square book.

4. Tear paper off one side of each of the corrugated cardboard pieces exposing the ridges. Ink edges and ridges with blue ink. Glue one piece to the front cover and one to the back cover.

5. Cut 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" square pieces from the assorted pattern pieces. Some of these pieces will then be cut in half diagonally to form triangles for some of the pages in the book. Ink all edges with coral ink.

6. Open book and lay flat. Start adhering papers to cardstock pages. Mix up the patterns and colors for interest. I left some pages blank and later decorated with scraps, the cardstock diecuts and journal cards. Below you can see one "side" of the opened book decorated.

7. Turn over and repeat for second side.

8.  Decorate pages as desired. I added some punched hearts and stars and some of the yardstick diets here and there. Add Glossy Accents over these. I also doodled with a white pen.

9. To decorate the cover, I used one of the journal cards, cut it down slightly and inked the edges. I added for checkered "buttons" in the corners and looped and glued baker's twine around to form a frame, knotting it in the upper right corner. The tiny tag is cut from one of the journal cards. I cut it into a tag shape, punched a hole in the top and threaded orange twine through the hole. It is attached around the upper right button as well.

10.  Since the book is fat and didn't want to stay closed very well, I made a closure out of one of the cardstock embellishments. I cut the strip in half and glued one end of each piece under the right and left edges of the cover panel. I added tiny pieces of velcro to the ends and then wrapped them to the back, glueing the other side of the velcro pieces to the back. (See below.)

 11. Add some fun photos and you are finished! Here is another photo showing how the little book "meanders."

I hope you enjoyed my little minibook project! All supplies can be found either in-house at The Little Blue House or on our website: www.thelittlebluehouseonline.com  The book is also on display at the store if you would like to see it "up close and personal."

HAPPY CREATING THIS SUMMER!

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I  also wanted to share with you a workshop I will be repeating soon at The Little Blue House!
If you love the color theme of the Authentique- Playful Collection you will love these
"Happy Houses" designed me!

This fun mixed media workshop will be offered on July 7th  (Tuesday) and you can choose either the morning or evening session.  Visit the Workshops Page on the LBH Website for all the details on this upcoming class! www.thelittlebluehouseonline.com

"Love You" Minibook and a Short Tutorial

Here is the final project I created from the "Game On" Front Porch Kit.  It's a minibook, the base of which is made from just one piece of pattern paper. A few folds and two small cuts and you have a darling little book that can hold a surprising amount of photos. Of course, I added lots of scraps and snippets of other papers, buttons, and ribbons to embellish.  

Front cover using alpha stickers and metal foil tape (see instructions later in post)

First and second pages - page on right lifts up to reveal two photo mats as seen below

Using a decorative photo corner punch adds so much to the design

Page three which is actually a pocket revealing a tabbed double-sided photo mat inside - love those polaroid frames which were on a paper included in the kit

Back page is a tiny pocket holding another polaroid frame and a card

Overall view

I thought I would share step-by-step photos of how I made the title block for the front cover.  I first cut a scrap of the cardstock the desired size (any color would do as it will be totally covered, but I happened to have red on my workspace so that's what got used!).  Then I added the alpha stickers that were included in the kit - you can see that the "v" tore as I took it off the sheet but it won't show when we're done.

Next I covered the entire piece with the foil tape with extra to fold over the edges. 

 This is already sticky on the back which makes it super easy to use.  I rubbed over the entire piece with my fingers to reveal the letters.

Then I burnished well with a paper stump, defining the letters even more and smoothing the background.

In this closeup you can see the pattern of the cardstock in the background.

After folding over the edges, I swiped the piece with black Distress Paint (this acrylic paint works well on non-porous surfaces). It collects in the crevices around the letters and makes them pop.

The final step was to wipe off the excess paint, especially on the tops of the letters. 

And voila, the title is ready to be mounted on the front of the minibook.  (Excuse the red "E" - must be a reflection of something as it really isn't red!)

Hope you enjoyed this brief tutorial on how to get extra mileage from ordinary sticker letters. This would be a great way to use up those colors you don't like or use!

If you haven't ordered a "Game On" kit, there are just a few left!  

To get yours, call or stop by the LBH: 

118 W. Olive St.

Keller, TX 76248

817-431-7930

or order online: www.thelittlebluehouseonline.com

Using up Scraps

Warning: Lots of photos!

This is a little scrapbook (literally, as I made it with all the scraps left over from one of the Front Porch Kits!).  The prototype for this was a Scrapstasher's project at the Little Blue House a few months ago.  The book is 6"x6" and the basic structure uses a 6"x12" piece of cardstock for each page.  In this book I used 6 pages and a front and back 6" square cover.

All pages were folded in half to make fold-out pages. Then I cut a 1" x 6" strip off three pages to leave room for the binding.  The uncut edge will be on the binding side.  For the remaining three pages I made a one-inch cut along the fold and then cut an inch strip from that point to one short edge of the cardstock.  These pages either flip up or down, depending whether you place the fold at the top of the book or the bottom.  (This will be clearer when you see the photos below.)

For the cover, I cut several 2" x 4" rectangles of coordinating patterned papers and then cut each piece diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner.  This results in long triangles.  These are then arranged around the center point of a 6" square base.  Line up the four triangles on the corners and then fill in with other triangles, overlapping slightly as necessary.  Adhere everything down and cut off the excess papers.  You don't have to worry about how the center looks with all those points coming together as it will be covered with a cardstock circle (I used a 3" one) along with pretty buttons.

Finished cover

Inside front cover and first page, closed

First page - flips out to right

Back of first page and second page, closed

Second page - flips up

Back of second page and third page, closed

Third page flips out to right

Back of third page and fourth page, closed

Fourth page - flips down

Back of fourth page and fifth page, closed

Fifth page flips out to right

Back of fifth page and sixth page, closed

Sixth page - flips up

Back of sixth page and inside back cover

Back cover

This is a great project to use up scraps, especially if you use leftovers from a specific project or a kit as they will all coordinate.  Here is the small pile of scraps from the Front Porch Kit that I had left after making this book.  The largest pieces are the floral print and the yellow print on the left! All the rest will be going into the wastebasket!

This is a fun little minibook and can hold alot of photos - mine will hold 25!  They make nice, quick gifts especially for people who don't make paper crafts or don't have time.  It will be going to one of my daughters to fill with special memories.