How to Alter a Greeting Into a Mini-Book

Create Mixed-Media Art Books From Cards

Dec 14, 2009 Jenn Greenleaf

Sometimes a handmade greeting card just isn't enough to express all your thoughts. Create a mini-book to really get your sentiments out!

For those who love writing stories, long letters, or lengthy expressions of gratitude when sending out greetings, choosing a mini-book may be the best option. Alter a handmade greeting card easily into a simple mini-book.

Note: Mixed-Media Snowflakes and Snowflake Greeting Card are featured in this project.

Materials:

  • Handmade greeting card
  • Scrap paper
  • One or two pieces of white paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick

Instructions:

  1. Open the card up all the way, lay it down flat, and use the glue to stick to affix pieces of scrap paper wherever there is a hole or corner punched.
  2. Close the card, and trim off any uneven edges using scissors or a paper cutter.
  3. Open the card once again, rub glue on the entire surface, and close it up again. Burnish down the entire surface of the card in order to create a sturdier cover.
  4. Fold the white paper, one piece at a time, into quarters. Cut the paper using scissors or a paper cutter so it is slightly smaller than the interior of the card.
  5. Open the card up, and cover the interior of the card with glue. Affix the white paper to the interior of the card.
  6. Close the card, and burnish down the entire surface of the card using the capped glue stick or handles of your scissors to ensure proper adhesion.
  7. Open up the card, and cut the white paper along the remaining folded crease. Remove the paper, and give it a sharp crease using your fingernail or the edge of your scissors.
  8. Run a line of glue down the center of the card’s crease, as well as to the paper’s crease. Nest the paper inside the book, and close it up. Rub the outside edge of the card to create a sharp crease and to ensure proper adhesion. Repeat this process if you’re using more than one piece of folded white paper.

Variations:

  • Rather than cutting the interior white paper along its folded edge, leave it alone and create an interesting flip-out mini-book.
  • Use distress inks along the edges of the white paper once they are affixed inside the interior of the mini-book.
  • Rather than gluing the papers in, staple them in by flipping open the card, and stapling the inside so they don’t show. Then, follow step 3 above to glue the cover down.
  • Trim the edges of the white paper using decorated scissors.
  • Create rounded corners on the interior pages of the mini-book using a corner cutter.
  • Use wrapping paper scraps to embellish the back cover of the mini-book, or an alternate color of construction paper.

This simple paper art project can be completed quickly in one sitting; which is perfect for those who are pressed for time or for the classroom. Encourage children to create miniature memory books using this method, as well, to house text, pictures, drawings, collages, and so on. These mini-books are also wonderful for pen pals and short stories.

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The copyright of the article How to Alter a Greeting Into a Mini-Book in Mixed Media Arts is owned by Jenn Greenleaf. Permission to republish How to Alter a Greeting Into a Mini-Book in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
You don't need much to create this project., JMG You don't need much to create this project.
The finished project., JMG The finished project.
 
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