christmas book art CouponMamaUK

Posted on April 22, 2016 | by couponmama

November 19, 2015 Craft Ideas

As I sat looking through the traditional normal gift ideas, something caught my eye…Book Folding.

Looking at them all beautifully decorated I thought these would be hard to do, but seeing how they are made it has to be one of the cheapest, if not free ideas for a unique christmas gift that I’ve seen so far.

I have made 9 so far for friends and family all unique and tailored to their Christmas colour scheme, be warned it is very addictive and is the perfect thing to do while watching re runs of the christmas classics on tv.

The Christmas Tree

To make one you will need…..

A book, at least 180 pages. (to ensure it is thick and full when made) If the book is over 400 odd pages then id suggest splitting the book into two, I’ve found it very hard to turn a whole book into a tree, especially if it’s a very thick book. (You can use the other half to make another tree)
Superglue.
Old decorations, or cheap craft supplies work well.

Three things plus a bit of time and patience, and you’ve created a beautiful personalised gift for friends and family.

How to make your tree….

Find a book, any will do, now remove the outside cover as this isn’t needed.
Start folding by lining the top right corner of the page so it is level with the spine of the book.
Where your first fold is line that along the spine also.
By now you have your basic tree shape, there will be a bit of paper overhanging the book, fold that under and your basic shape is done.
Repeat this method through the book until you have done all the pages, and then glue the back and front pages together to keep the christmas tree shape.
Your tree is now a blank canvas for you to create a masterpiece. I’ve used smaller decorations as bigger ones can be a bit heavy, old tinsel around the bottom and on some of mine I’ve found battery-powered fairy lights look beautiful.

The Bird House design

As with the Christmas Tree you again need a book without the cover and Superglue.

How to make the Bird House….

Have your uncovered book facing you, and fold the top right corner to the spine like the tree design. Now fold the page horizontally, so the unfolded part of the page is level with the spine of the book. This is the first part of the house done.
On the next page, fold the top right corner in like step one, and do the same to the bottom right so you are left with a triangle shape pointing outwards.
repeat step one on the third page, then step three on the page after that, continue this pattern until the whole book has been done then glue the front and back pages so it holds its shape.
Decoration time. Now you don’t have to make it a bird house, you can pick up butterflies to make it a butterfly house, fairy decorations to turn it into a fairy home because it is a multi use shape you can create wonderful designs for next to nothing.

There are many different designs and ways to personalise your unused books, from creating worded ones or even animals.