Small is Beautiful ....

Hello and welcome to my first creative post of 2020. I hope, like us, you have had a restful and peaceful Christmas and are now ready to jump into not just a new year, but a new decade!

As it is also the first day of the month we are starting a new challenge at Mini Album Makers and I have decided to start the year with some small tiny books representing the four seasons which have helped me use up some small, but precious pieces of scrapbooking paper and were great fun to make.

Whilst taking stock of my paper supplies earlier last month I decided to use some of these fabulous little pieces of Graphic 45 papers from the Time to Flourish pack which have been so much a favourite but which I couldn't part with even the tiniest little piece!

It is always fun making a new book(s) and at Mini Album Makers we just ask you to share whatever you have made this month. The team love their bookmaking and you can be assured of some great inspiration. Do hop on over to the MAM blog to see more.

As I had made quite a number of books for Christmas presents I had lots of small leftover bits of paper and board. So ..... in order not to waste anything I decided to create a little set of books none of which is more than 2" high.

Spring was my first little book and I had a few little labels which filled a few pages.

Then I turned to some summer papers. The book measures 2" x 2" but has a thicker spine than the rest which makes for a lovely chunky book especially as I had more in the way of labels and cutouts.

By the time I got to Autumn I realised that a plain inside cover suited the books well. Autumn has a similar chunky spine to Summer but the book measures 2" x 1.75" (and really is kinda cute!).

And finally to Winter which is the smallest book of the set measuring only 2" x 1.5". I was running out of papers at this point so it is quite a thin book but has some lovely labels and quotes inside.

And here are a few steps explaining how the books came together:

I sorted all the left over bits of paper from my Christmas present making and pulled together four books of varying sizes, although they were all 2" high.  I made sewn signatures in the normal way but only used two holes for the sewing.

Board was then cut to fit the signatures and I played around on my papers to see what would fit. I am using papers from the 8" x 8" paper stack which means the images are small enough for these tiny books.

The board covers were made in just the same way as I make my larger ones.

I always glue the long edges first .... no idea why but I find it makes for a neater finish.

Once you have everything stuck down don't be tempted to bend the paper as it never folds correctly. Always score with a bone folder first for a crisper fold.

There are many videos/step by steps on the internet showing how to make board cover books and I have used the same principles for these small ones. Once you have the skills it is easy to translate them to any size.

I don't expect the books will be used for anything but were fun to make and look really cute sitting on the mantlepiece and have caused a few comments!

So another creative year starts and I have much to look forward to ... more about that later in the month!

As always thank you for joining me and I wish you all a very happy, healthy and creative year ahead.

Jennie x