Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Tuesday Tutsie - 01.12.10

How to make mini books out of manila folders:
Today I will show you how to make four different style mini books using manila folders. These were really fast and easy to make... I can't wait to actually scrapbook on them. Give them a try because these would make great gifts...



Here's what you'll need:
- Manila folders
- Zip Dry (or your favorite adhesive, although I really recommend using Zip Dry for this project since you wont always be able to tell what you're over gluing and this way you can rub the excess glue right off!)
- Paper trimmer

To make the first book I cut off the bottom portion of the folder to make it resemble a square (I did about 3.5") I repeated this step with 6 manila folders.





Once all six folders were trimmed, I stacked them according to the tabs on a pile. This makes the gluing process a lot easier and less confusing.





Glue the back of the first folder to the front of the second one to start your book binding.






Continue gluing the back to the front of all your folders.











Once you're finished, your book should look something like this.







What to do with all these scraps we got from cutting the bottom of the folders to make the previous book? Lets make another book!






First trim off a little of the open flap so your book doesn't have the remainder of the bottom tab. I trimmed mine so that the length of the whole book was about 8 1/8 " Do this with all your scraps.





I decided to make two books out of my scraps. For the first I put aside three of them and border punched the edge to give it some flair.





Then I positioned them cascading style about 1/2" in from the last folder. This turned out really cool... I think it would make a super cute Valentines card *hint hint*





With the remaining scraps I made a simple rectangular book following the same steps as the first book. Glue the back of the first folder to the front of the following and so on...





This is the last book of the day. I set six full length manila folders aside, arranging them in two sets of three with its corresponding top, middle and bottom tabs. Then I glued each set together like we've done in the previous books.




I decided to put these two together differently, so they would resemble two mini books in one. The idea is to be able to open one side and then have to turn it around to open the other.

Set one of the two books you created down with the tabs facing left, then glue the other one on top of it with the tabs facing right.


The result should be something like this. I thought it would be really cool to do a "his" and "hers" side on this album. Maybe something that goes in depth about each personality and who we are at the moment...




That's it for today's tutsie! I hope the instructions were clear and easy to follow. Any comments, suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated and will be taken into consideration for following tutorials :o)

Thanks for stopping by! *see* ya soon!

Stay sweet,
Mari
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4 comments:

  1. It looks like I'll be able to post, Yippee. Love the books. I will have to give this a try. As you said perfect for gifts.

    Wynett

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  2. Great directions! I'll be using this soon. :) Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love those! I taught a class like this at the Memories Expo! File folders are fun!

    Naureen

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  4. How fun!!! I will have to try these! Great directions!

    Amy

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