Since I've been on the road for about a week, and snapping lots of photos for my scrapbook, I decided to share with you a lovely tutorial. If any of you have seen Pixar's movie Up! then you know of Ellie's wonderful Adventure Book, if you haven't seen the movie, the Adventure Book is just a cute scrapbook and reminder of past "adventures."(This post contains affiliate links)
For Valentine's Day, a few years back, I decided to make my boyfriend an Adventure Book of our own to keep all of our wonderful travels & memories. I've seen a few recreations online going for about $50, but I thought it would be more fun and personal to make one myself. The approximate cost of everything, including all of my scrapping goodies and photos, was about $70. But, to make just the book alone was way cheaper than that because scrapbook embellishments are a little pricey..
What You Need
›› Chip Board
›› 2 Hole Punch
›› Fabric Scissors
›› Glue Adhesive
›› Elmer’s Spray Adhesive
›› Scrapbook/Cardstock Paper
›› Brown & Red Fabric
›› Brown/ Black Cord
›› Letters
›› Pictures
›› Scrapbook Embellishments
›› 2 Hole Punch
›› Fabric Scissors
›› Glue Adhesive
›› Elmer’s Spray Adhesive
›› Scrapbook/Cardstock Paper
›› Brown & Red Fabric
›› Brown/ Black Cord
›› Letters
›› Pictures
›› Scrapbook Embellishments
To start, punch 2 holes into all of your paper, I used cardstock instead of scrapbook paper because it was cheaper and still sturdy. I used about 50 sheets. After, measure 4 chip board pieces to the size of the paper, making the chip board a tiny bit bigger than the paper all around. Evenly punch holes through your measured chip board as well to match up with the pages. Chip board is pretty thin, so if you want the cover to be a bit thicker, glue 2 pieces onto each other using Elmer's Adhesive Spray. You can get this at your local craft store. You will end up with 2 thick pieces of chip board after this, instead of 4 thin pieces.
To figure out exactly how to make my book, I used this tutorial on how to bind your own hardcover book. But, skip to step 8 because we do not want to bind the paper to the spine. Also, SKIP STEP 12! It is important that you don't glue the paper down. I will also post the steps to follow, without the pictures, so refer back to the original tutorial for a visual. My added notes on each step will be in blue.
››Step 8: Make the book spine
Loosely assemble the bound paper and the covers. Pressing the paper together, measure their combined thickness and mark off on a piece of scrap card. Add about 1/2 an inch to this measurement.
Cut the spine so that it is the thickness of the covers and the paper together (as well as the added 1/2 inch) and the same length as the height of the book covers.
››Step 9: Mark and cut the material
Position the book covers and the spine on the reverse of your chosen fabric or leather and mark out so that there is a border of about 1 inch / 25mm all round. (I used leather vinyl for this.)
Cut out the material.
As already mentioned, you can use any material you want really, although very thick material will be difficult to fold and glue (although, who knows how patient you are?).
››Step 10: Glue the cover board and spine in place
Make sure you stick them neatly in a row so that they are aligned with each other and straight and that there is a gap of about 1 or two thicknesses of the card you are using between the spine and each of the cover boards.
››Step 11: Finish the edges of the cover
Smear an even layer of White or rubber glue round the edge of the boards and fold over the material to cover the edge work on one edge at a time. Do opposite ends first and then fold the other ends over on top so that all the folds go the same way. Make a neat job of the corners. If you are using thick material, you may well have to cut away some of the material that is going to be hidden under the fold over to stop the corners getting too bulky.
Once you have the skeleton of your book attached together and dried, measure a length of red fabric that will cover a small amount of the left side of your book, the spine, and a small amount of the right side of the back cover. Make sure it is not the exact size, but slightly larger so you can fold it over like we did with the brown fabric. To glue the red fabric into to your book, fold down the right and left edges and tuck each underneath the fabric itself so the red fabrics edges are now straight and will not fray. For the top and bottom edges, you are going to fold over the material to cover the edge work once again on the covers.
››SKIP STEP 12
››Step 13: Cut out your lining paper
Your book is nearly finished. Functionally it is already a hard back book, however the next step will make it look like a real book and cover up all the bits of folded over material.
For the lining paper you can use almost any type of paper. Traditionally Marbled Paper was used. Now you can make this yourself or buy it in sheet form from most good craft shops, or download a sheet of marbled paper. Or alternatively you can use a bit of old gift wrapping paper, or even just plain old brown packing paper. be as creative as you can here, the lining paper is like the lining of an expensive suit… hidden until it is revealed by someone opening it…
Ideally you want the lining paper to be a fraction smaller than the paper wad’s height so that you can line it up neatly.
So measure 2 pieces of paper, slightly smaller than your front and back cover chip board and also measure a piece for the spine. The paper piece for the spine should be the exact size of the chipboard. Make sure you punch holes on the cover lining pieces exactly where they are going to be placed on top of the cover.
››Step 14: Glue the lining in place
Spray the back side of all of your cut lining pages with your adhesive spray.
Carefully place each piece of paper in it’s spot so that it covers up all the folded over material and the inside of the cardboard covers.
Great! Now your done with your spine and cover pieces! After these steps, let the whole thing dry over night.
After it has dried, slice your fabric through the holes that they are covering so you are able to put string through them. You’re going to want to put your string through all of your scrapbook paper, and the covers.
Important: do not cut and tie your string to this exact length when the book is closed. The string will be too tight to open. So make sure you can easily open and close your book before you cut and tie off your string. I added a dab of glue to each of the knots to make sure they don’t come undone.
When you have finished your book, you can add your own letters on the front to label it as your adventure book. I also found a nice old picture of a globe online and placed a piece of tape on top of it to make it look like the real thing, but I glued both down to make sure they don’t fall off. I also simply used a pencil to trace a circle around the cover and bordered it in a square with a ruler.
Now you can embellish your pages with your fantastic memories! ☺ I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, don’t forget to comment with your thoughts and questions!
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I love this! I used to scrapbook a lot, but I haven't done it in so long...I should make an Adventure Book. =0)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration.