One Page Wonder Pocket Book

I know I said I'd get this tutorial up a couple of weeks back, but I failed miserably.

Never mind, it's here now and I hope you'll have a go at making one of these cute little books.
I've got lots of photos which I hope will help, they'll look small, but just click on them for a closer look. 

Kit List

for the basic book

1 sheet 12x12 Bazzill

length of ribbon

scissors/craft knife

bone folder

glue

for the cover

piece of card 11 x 17.5 cms

patterned paper 15 x 21.5 cms

How to make the pages:

1. The diagram shows where the first creases should be

Fold sheet of 12x12 in half, crease with bone folder.

Turn it 90deg and fold in half again.  Now fold one of the "loose" ends to the centre, line up carefully and crease

Turn the whole thing over and fold the remaining "loose" side to the centre and crease. It should look like this:

2.  With the card folded on the first centre crease you made (so that the other fold lines are running down as in this photo), measure and crease at 5cms.  This will form the little pockets eventually.

 Turn the whole thing over and make a matching crease at 5cms on the other side

3. Use scissors or a craft knife to cut as shown in the diagram

It should look like this - the clip is just there so I can do a photo!

3. Seal the 4 ends of the pockets (the 5cm folds) in place by using a narrow line of glue:

4. Now "concertina" the pages of one side up. Turn over and concertina the other side too and you should end up with something that looks more like a book

5. You'll notice that the central page has the fold at the top (that's the quarter you left uncut) and that those middle pages are back to back - I like to add a little bit of glue to keep that section firmly together.  If you look at it from the top it will now look like this:

6. Cut a length of ribbon - it needs to go round the book and be long enough to tie a bow to close the book

Draw a line on each side where you want the ribbon to be then glue the ribbon in place.  If you check the photos you'll notice that I've left a "loop" at the inner edge - the pages won't open properly if you don't leave that extra ribbon, and you'll not be able to close it properly once you've added tags to the pockets.
note: the punch in the photos is just thre to hold things in place!

The last picture shows the spine of the book.

That's the book pages all done 

 To make the cover

1. Cut a piece of card 11 x 17.5 cms - it doesn't matter what sort of card as it won't show

Cut a piece of patterned paper 15 x 21.5 cms

Mark and fold at 8cms and 9.5cms as shown in the photo

 2. Stick the card cover to the patterned paper.

If like me you use a striped paper, it's a good plan to make a crease about 2cms up before you start gluing, using one of the lines of the pattern to fold on - this way, you can match the edge of the cover to the inside of the crease and be sure that your stripes will be straight!

I like to make the spine folds as I'm going rather than stick the card to the paper then try to make the folds once it's all stuck together - remember that  it takes a fraction more paper to wrap around the spine than it did for the base card piece.  The paper is less likely to tear and you'll get a better finish if you make the folds as you go.  Hopefully the pictures will show what I mean (the clip was just there while I did the photos!)

3. The covered card won't lie flat now but don't worry, that's good - because it's already formed the shape of the book!

Now, snip pff the conrners of the paper, and snip a tiny "V" shape at the spine folds as shown

Fold and stick all the flaps down until it looks like this:

4.  At this point I decorate the front on my book

This means I can conceal any brad prongs, bits of wire, the ends of ribbon, lace etc that I want to wrap around between the cover and end pages when I stick it all together.

So for the next pictures I'm using clips to hold it in place just so you can see the final stages.

Use a good glue, such as bookbinding glue to adhere the end pages to the book cover.  You should have a margin of about 0.5cms top and bottom, and at the front (left side) and back (right side) of the book as shown above,  Using clips at this point will help keep everything in place while the glue dries.  The ends of the ribbon should be between the cover and the ends of the book, tie the ends of the ribbon in a bow to keep it closed while it dries,

That's it, all done - just the inside pockets to decorate and the tags to make but I don't think you need me to explain how to do that, eh?

I hope you'll have a go at making one - as soon as you've made one of these you'll see how easy hey are to do - even if the instructions seem to go on forever - that's just because I thought lots of pictures would make it easier to follow.

I''ll be back to show my finished book as soon as it's done, but I'd really love to see your book if you make one, so please don't forget to come back and let me know if you blog your book.

Happy Crafting