Baby it's a cinch..

Ok so I finished my book.

I covered some card in pretty paper and cinched the centre fold.

it really looks like a book when it stands up as it has a hard spine but I made it too thick, and the wire 3/4" I used was too small would have been better to use the 1 1/4" as it would have hung down in a much better way.

You can see that I have marked the centre and punched as in my last post but I scored it at 1/2" from the fold on both sided so it's too wide, but when you hold it and look it seems OK.

Just me knowing I did it wrong, so I will always see it as not right.

The pages are made by scoring an A4 page at 14cm and 28cm.

I then folded it in half and tucked the 1.5cm inside,

to make myself a pocket,

but the bottom  will need sticking down either now,

or just add some glue afterward to seal it.

 I didn't stick it down just punched at this edge,

which means 3 layers of card, in all got punched.

So the folded edge is on the outside

and the open edge is at the centre.

The pages are held closed by the wire.

But when it lies flat it looks great.

Cinch I love it....

I got a new toy, it's called a Cinch, and it really is fun.

Yes it's a very big hole punch, great for making mini books,

 and notebooks.

I was in Tesco's and saw they had a book made with a bind-it-all wire, so had to come home and have a go. Here is my first attempt and it won't be my last, as I love how the book looks, it's so tidy on the outside, and I have loads of double sided papers I can use.

If you look in the photo it couldn't be easier to make.

Fold a card in half, and punch the holes along that fold, then score the spine on each side. Mine was 1/2" from centre fold.

Add your pages onto the bind it all wire, then add you cover.

You need the cover to be folded in half so you can see the inside front cover, this sits next to your pages, just like you normally would then cinch it, when you fold the back cover over it creates a book jacket with the wires showing at the spine.

Will post when I have made one with pretty pages.

Making your own book closings on the cheap.

I saw this on someone elses utube and just loved the idea so thought I would share it.

To close your book you will need:

A brad and matching  eyelet.

A childs hair band, with the metal joiner as it works to hold the elastic in place.

Yes that is all, cheap isn't it....

Here I have put the hairband through a hole punched on the back of a book...yes I know mine is white chipboard as it works best on firmer books.

Make sure this is on the inside back cover.

You also need to add some tape to keep it fixed in place.

             Close your book and  mark where the elastic stretches too on the front cover and punch a hole.

Now take your brad and add the eyelet upside down so it creates a post like above, the top of the eyelet is next to the book cover.

Close the brad as tight as you can as normal on the inside front cover of the book,

This now gives you a peg on the front of the book and when you close the book you can wrap the elastic round to hold the book closed.

This was the mini my daughter wanted me to make.

I had a very small amount of red card in stripes as had given the rest away to a friend.

The white card was from the Vicars' Stash,,

That always makes me smile, because he really did stash everything as if one day he might use it yet when he moved into a smaller house it all just got left behind.

I made the mini book as she asked, then she produced the Smirk Footballer pages and added all the decorations herself.

Yes I used my cinch to cut the holes, I just love this piece of kit as I can now add anything and it will fit... no more punch and hope.

Notebook fever

This is what I have been making for a change I got given the paper by the vicar, well rather it was stuff he left behind when he moved house so I got loads of strips of paper and making notepads was the only thing I could think of to do with it. They were not very hard to make as I have the bind it all, which I now intend to sell as I've gone and bought the new version from a different company so if anyone wants to buy mine it's £45 including postage, but I do intend to give you enough to make a loads of books for yourself.

I will include the following with it:

5 wire elements 6mm

5 wire elements 8mm

5 wire elements  12.5mm

20 sheets of mount board mixed sizes

The CD how to is unopened.

It also has a metal bar to make it cut nearer the spin.

A keyring with all the binder sizes on.

and will be in the original box.