Sarah Nielsen » accordion book

accordion book baby shower invitations

sarah — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:00:55 +0000

I just shipped off these baby shower invitations to my friend Jill. Cute, right?!

She wanted something accordion-style and this is what I came up with. The front covers are Amy Butler paper. The invitations measure 4.5″ by 3″ when they are all folded up.

So the next time you host something and need invitations, you can do this (or can hire me to, wink wink)! But, really, you can do it. Especially since I posted a detailed tutorial on how to make accordion books a couple months ago. If you are feeling fancy, you could adapt the pocket accordion book tutorial to be an invitation. The possibilities are endless here!

sneak peek: gift card holders

sarah — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:15:38 +0000

I am so excited about this new product! If you are anything like me, you love to give handmade gifts (especially at Christmas-time!). But it seems like every year something comes up and I end up giving at least one gift card. I don’t know about you, but I always feel a little bit lame for giving a gift card. It’s so impersonal. But it happens, right?! Am I the only one?

I believe I have solved the feeling-lame-gift-card-giving problem, though. With this:

Introducing Book Bound Bindery gift card holders. Now you can give a gift card AND give handmade at the same time! Amazing, right? I designed these a while ago and am happy to present to you the new line of gift card holders. Each one is a hard-back accordion book with one pocket the perfect size for holding a gift card (or money or check). They come packaged with a coordinating twine and to/from sticker tag. My sister wrote the words inside – which I love! So all you have to do is slip the gift card in the pocket, write a note, tie it up and it’s ready to go.

These will be available at the Open House next week. After that they will be listed in my etsy shop.

pocket accordion book

sarah — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:10:45 +0000

Welcome back for another Tutorial Tuesday! The Pocket Accordion Book Tutorial builds off of the Accordion Book Tutorial I posted last week, but you can make this even if you didn’t make the accordion book. [Or you can skip the tutorial and head straight for my etsy shop... just kidding! You can do this! Go get your supplies.]

Supplies:

paper or bookcloth for the outside cover
paper for the inside
davey board (mat board or any other kind of board)
pva glue (elmer’s glue will work)
paintbrush
ruler
xacto knife
self healing mat
bone folder or old credit card
scissors

PART A: Decide on the dimensions of your accordion book and prepare the inside paper.

This tutorial is for a 4″ by 4″ book (same as last time). So the covers will be 4″ by 4″ (same as last time). Your inside paper (mine is white this time) needs to be 7″ by 24″. You can piece the paper together if you need to.

1: Using your ruler and bone folder (or credit card) score the inside paper lengthwise at the 4″ mark. Fold.

2: Lay the paper flat again. Make a second score mark 1.5″ along side the fold you made at the 4″ mark. Fold.

3: Flatten out your paper and make a score mark every 4″ parallel to the short side (this is the same thing you did last time only your paper is 7″ instead of 4″). Fold accordion style. Flatten back out.

4: Now fold your pockets. Fold up the paper along the long fold you made in step 1. Then fold up the fold you made in step 2. Last, fold the whole thing up accordion style like you did in step 3.

5: To secure the pockets’ edges, I hand stitched them with waxed linen thread. You can sew them, glue them or use double sided tape. If you choose to sew them, first poke holes along the edge (this will make the sewing easier).

6: Then go for it with your needle and thread. Do the same thing to the opposite end.

PART B: Make the front and back covers.

This part is identical to Step 3 from the Accordion Book Tutorial. I copied and pasted those directions here. (That’s why the paper is different)

Start with the front cover. Squeeze out some glue onto the davey board. Spread it out evenly with your paintbrush. Flip it over and center it on the wrong side of the paper for your cover. Smooth out any air bubbles.

Cut off the corners of the paper at an angle, making sure to leave about 3mm between the point of the board and the edge of the paper.

Next, spread glue on one of the sides of paper. Fold over and press.

Using your bone folder, smush down the extra paper against the board. (I’m doing all these steps on top of scratch paper to protect my desk from getting glue all over.) Do the same thing to the opposite side.

Then glue down the 2 remaining sides. Prepare the back cover in exactly the same way.

PART C: Glue the inside paper to the front and back covers.

This part is identical to Step 4 from the Accordion Book Tutorial. I copied and pasted those directions here.

Spread glue on the wrong side of the front cover. Line up the inside paper with the cover and press. Smooth out air bubbles.

Then spread glue on the back cover. With the front cover face down on your desk, fold up all the inside paper so that it’s flat. Attach the back cover to the last page of the inside paper. Press down and smooth out air bubbles. Admire what a good job you did! You made a book!

PART D: Press and personalize.

Get your pocket accordion book under something heavy and leave it there overnight (I used a stack of old textbooks from my college days). Now for the fun part – personalize it! I made little positive affirmation cards to stick in my little pocket book (can you ever have too many positive affirmations laying around?!). In the next day or so the book will most likely show up near my husband’s sink before he wakes up in the morning so he can start the day off with awesome-ness.

Do you have a friend or child or neighbor who could use a little positive reinforcement? Well, good thing, because here is the positive affirmations pdf! So get to work and brighten someone’s day.

As always, you can buy this pocket accordion book from my etsy shop for less than a Hallmark card.

Happy Tuesday!

accordion book tutorial

sarah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:00:51 +0000

Welcome to my very first Tutorial Tuesday! First up is a simple accordion book tutorial. No need for an accordion book, you say? Well, think again! Accordion books are a great, inexpensive way to display photos, or you can use them as greeting cards, or send them away to a friend with a letter, or give them as gifts, or anything else you can think of (I know you are creative).

Now on to the tutorial.

Supplies:

STEP 1: Decide on the dimensions of your accordion book and prepare the inside paper.

This tutorial is for a 4 inch by 4 inch accordion book with 6 pages. Cut your inside paper (mine is brown) to 4″ by 24″. My brown paper was not 24″ long, so I decided to piece it together using double sided tape.

Using your bone folder (or credit card) and ruler, score every 4″. Fold along each score accordion style.

STEP 2: Prepare the front and back covers.

Using a paper cutter or xacto knife and ruler, cut your davey board down to 4″ squares – one for the front cover and one for the back.

Then cut the paper you want to be your covers (mine is polka dots) down to 5″ squares.

STEP 3: Make the covers.

Cut off the corners of the paper at an angle, making sure to leave about 3mm between the point of the board and the edge of the paper.

Next, spread glue on one of the sides of paper. Fold over and press.

Then glue down the 2 remaining sides. Prepare the back cover in exactly the same way.

STEP 4: Glue the inside paper to the covers.

Spread glue on the wrong side of the front cover. Line up the inside paper with the cover and press. Smooth out air bubbles.

STEP 5: Press and personalize.

With your accordion book all folded up, put it under a bunch of books or under your mattress overnight while it dries. This will help it dry flat. Once it’s dry you can put it to good use. Add photos and put it on a dresser, write a letter inside and mail it to your mom, write some happy birthday wishes and tie it up with a ribbon instead of giving store bought cards, or think of something else to use it for.

Quick. Easy. And so satisfying.

But just in case you need an accordion book RIGHT NOW and can’t wait 10 minutes to make your own, you can buy the one I made for the tutorial in my shop.

Happy Bookmaking!