Recently I made a house out of paper that wasn't strong enough to handle scoring without splitting. In this case, the paper was a heavier gauge and became rather bulky when folded and glued.
The idea is still a good one and while this wasn't finished to the point of using it as greeting, practicing with images from Stampin' Up were fun and this might just become something for my granddaughter to look at and play with. Here is the cover of this mini book that, with covers, could hold 8 images.
I began with a sheet of 11 x 8.5 inch card stock, trimmed to 11" x 7.5" I'm not sure why the directions I used (and now cannot locate online) called for the paper to be trimmed by one inch. The measurements I will give here match what is photographed.
The trimmed paper, with the shorter side at the top of the score board, was scored at 3.75 inches. Rotate the paper to landscape view and score at 2.75", 5.5", and at 8.25"
The middle section of the paper needs to be cut as shown. I used my Stampin' Up paper cutter, inserting the blade at the 2.75" mark on the long score line and cutting down to the 8.25" mark. To be clear, I made that cut before using a bone folder to emphasize the scoring shown in the right side photo above.
How you choose to adhere your pages is up to you. My first attempt followed the directions I had read, but without good results. From previous experience, I did not want to use liquid glue or a small tape runner. Sometimes glue warps paper and while I love the convenience of a Tombow style tape runner, it doesn't always hold well. I used Scor-tape, in this case, Sookwang. Turn the paper to landscape orientation and apply tape runner or Scor-tape inside the scored rectangles shown.
If you have worked with Scor-tape, you know it is very sticky and holds immediately. The directions I used said to remove the backing on all of the tape and then fold and assemble the book. This is where my disaster struck. You are NOT folding and adhering the entire upper half of the paper in the above photo to the lower half, you are ONLY adhering the end panels.
Confused? Remember that the paper is slit along the horizontal score over the two middle panels. That slit allows you to pull the middle fold on the lower half into a valley fold while pushing the upper half into a mountain as you adhere the end panels into this configuration. The reason you did not apply tape to the third panels from the left on top and bottom is that the second panels that are taped are going to adhere to them in a moment.
After my initial disaster of having the Scor-tape attach to paper before properly aligned, I removed the backing only on the innermost crease (think of it as the binding side of a book) as I folded those pages into place. I then used a paper piercer to ease the tape off of the other lengths of Scor-tape to finish assembly.
Wow, what a lousy photo....but it shows what you have before folding the pages into a traditional book format.
The size of your decorative paper or photo for each page is a matter of choice. I decided to use 3.5" x 2.5"
The print papers used are from the HoHoHo Collection by The Stamps of Life (a 6x6 pad). The oval dies used are from DieNamics (Double Stitched Ovals Stax) and the images are from Stampin' Up.
Santa is from the Cookie Cutter stamp set and Cookie Cutter Builder punch was used to cut him out.
The bear is from Fa La La La Friends, the fox from Cozy Critters. The bear was die cut using Bear Hugs, the fox was cut free hand.
Reindeer is from Cookie Cutter (cut with same named punch), Llama is from Fa La La La Friends, cut with Fiesta Time die.
The owl is from Cozy Critters, cut with Owl Builder punch and the gingerbread man is from Cookie Cutter stamp and punch.
The back of the card has layered ovals, ready for a stamped greeting and signature.
