CrazyDaisy

Go Vintage: A Mini Book Tutorial

By Katie Turner

Step 1:

Gather your materials.

You’ll need the following from the kit:

* Kaisercraft Journal
* Kaisercraft Devonshire Collection Victorian Rose patterned paper
* Pink Paislee 365 Degrees Collection Daydream patterned paper
* Scenic Route Providence Collection Cottage Street patterned paper
* Lace trim

Other materials you’ll need include:

* Corrugated cardboard for the journal’s spine
* Wood grain contact paper
* Craft Bond or PVC glue
* Mod Podge
* Acrylic paint
* A couple paint brushes
* Binder clips or clamps
* An interesting vintage image to use for your cover — I chose a peacock illustration from a vintage book

Step 2:

Cut your cardboard. Depending on thickness, cut one or two 1 cm x 21.5 cm strips; to match the thickness of my journal cover, I glued two strips together, one on top of the other. Once the spine is finished, cut your contact paper into one 12 cm x 21.5 cm piece, two strips of 3 cm x 21.5 cm, and one 32 cm x 21.5 cm piece.

Step 3:

Take your 12 cm x 21.5 cm piece and center the covers of your journal on it just like in the above picture, leaving approximately 1.5 cm between them. Be sure that the front cover is facing outward instead of inward (the leaf design should be on the lower left). Place the cardboard spine in the space between the covers, centering it so that there is a sliver of space between either side of the spine and the covers.

Step 4:

Next, either place the covers and spine (which should now be connected by the contact paper behind them) on a large sheet of contact paper and trace around to determine the size you’ll need to cover the inside completely (which may be more exact if your journal doesn’t match my dimensions number for number), or use the 32 cm x 21.5 cm piece you cut earlier.

Step 5:

Adhere it on top of your covers just as they are, being sure to round the corners if you used the pre-cut piece of contact paper. Set aside.

Step 6:

We’re now dealing with the paper block, which includes lined pages and two cardstock end sheets. Use those end sheets as templates to trace on the Kaisercraft and Pink Paislee pages; you’ll end up with four end sheets total, two of them containing the orange Kaisercraft pattern and the other two containing the blue Pink Paislee pattern. Adhere the two orange sheets over the outside of the end sheets; one will have punched holes on the left, and one will have them on the right.

Step 7:

Stack your pages together using the end sheets to sandwich the lined pages. Use binder clips or clamps on either side of the stack to keep your pages firmly in place once you have jogged them and made sure they are all lined up. Next, brush Craft Bond or PVC glue on the spine of the paper stack, being sure to fan the pages out (the way you would when shuffling a deck of cards) so that the glue will stick to every page. This is important as it prevents your book from falling apart later on!

Step 8:

After smoothing out the journal’s spine (and making sure the contact paper sticks together in the spaces on either side of it), use an X-Acto knife to cut the newly formed wood grain leaves and stem out of the design so that you will be able to see through them again.

Step 9:

Adhere the blue end sheets onto the inside covers, centering them and making sure that you can see the front sheet’s orange back through all leaves on the front of the journal. Then, slide your dried paper block into the journal, centering it.

Step 10:

Using your remaining 3 cm x 21.5 cm wood grain contact paper strips, adhere the covers to the end sheets of the paper block… And the basic structure of your journal is complete! Now, embellish to your heart’s content. I used blue acrylic paint, the Scenic Route patterned paper, lace trim, and the image of the peacock to make the cover pretty.