Earth Day Crafting

I checked out this book and found a neat book  to make using the subscription inserts that come in magazines. So this is why I'm calling the post Earth Day Crafting since I am repurposing.  The instructions for the Custom Bound Books is on page 64. You can really use any size or type of paper you have on hand.

 You will need 10 pieces of paper.  Three pieces will be for the pages of the book, Four pieces will work as connectors, two pieces for  the title pages and one piece will be used to create the books spine.

 Step 1 {Make the pages for the book}

Fold one short end to the middle not creasing the middle section

Do this on the other short side.   Fold three pieces in this manner. Your paper now looks like this:

 Now fold the short sides again to the middle.

 Step 2 {Make  the Connectors}

Fold in the same way as for the pages but fold one of the sides overlapping the other side by 1/8 of an inch.  The connectors will be 1/8" smaller.

Step 3 {Make the covers}  You will need two pieces of paper and these pieces are folded the same way you folded the pages.

Step 4 {Make the Spine}  You will need one piece of paper to make the spine.  Fold this piece the same way you folded the connectors.  Arrange your pieces of paper in order before joining them.

Step 5 - Join the pages to the connectors by slipping the connector into the page making sure all the open edges are all on the same side.  Join in this manner:

1 connector, 1 page, 1 connector, 1 page, 1 connector, 1 page ending with 1 connector.

Now join a cover to each side.

Step 6 {Fold the book in accordion style}

The opposite side of the accordion looks like this:

The pages of the book

Step 7 {Use the last piece of paper to make the spine by......

Slipping into the two covers.   I applied a small amount of glue to the spine piece facing you.

The finished book.

This little book is perfect for jotting down Memory verses.

I also made a birthday card booklet using this technique.  I used 8-1/2 by 11 inches paper.  Keep in mind that the connectors will not be seen so you can use paper that has some writing.  You can even pre print your pieces of paper to make a mini scrapbook.  This I am going to try next.  The pretty illustrations on this birthday card booklet are from the Graphics Fairy.  For a more finished spine, you can cut a piece of paper and glue to the spine. I used a piece of magazine paper to make the spine strip.

'Till we meet again....

2010 - Dia de Los Niños - Dia de Los Libros at Imaginon

Dia de Los Niños was celebrated once again at Imaginon.  The tradition to celebrate this Dia and promote reading for children started back in 1998 in Charlotte.  This special day is celebrated all around the United States.  This was my third year participating and I contributed by organizing a craft for children.  Amy from Outreach at Main gave me a hand and we taught the  children to make Ristras.  Real ristras consist of different varieties of chiles which are strung together.  The ristras are hung in homes as a welcome and good luck symbol.    

Imaginon had a good number of visitors for this event and I enjoyed very much this experience.  This craft was very simple and I found it here.  I was surprised how many children needed help tying the knots.  The knots are made between each chile pepper.  We actually had to make the knot double so the peppers would not slip.  I chuckled at this little malfunction because my sample was made with only one knot and was fine.  Don't you just love it when this happens and you have a crowd and then have to quickly think of a solution.  Well the double knot did work but their ristras were shorter...LOL....

Amy caught on real quick and was a great help.

This young participant required help tying the knots but he was happy with the result.

I had more than enough peppers for this craft and Amy really enjoyed helping out.