An accordian spine mini coaster book...

Once upon a time there was a boy who went to a cartooning class. The boy loved it, and wanted to spend almost every moment after that, designing, creating, and mass producing comic books, which he intended to sell to his family.... I am guessing that is just the first chapter of that story, rather than 'The End'!

For my part, I decided to make Hayden a special little coaster book, that he could turn into a limited edition Hayden Jones comic. These little books are easy to make, and a great way to use up those scraps. Some of you have done them in a class or workshop with me before.

When it came to decorating the covers, I wanted to keep them simple (not knowing what story Hayden would be telling), but not completely blank. One of my favourite stampsets in the new catalogue is the 'Once Upon a Time' set. This set may not be quite as versatile as some of them, but it was one of my must haves (and I cannot quite explain that myself!) This was the perfect project to get some ink on it for the first time...

The verse on the front cover - Once upon a time - is actually one long stamp. I used sticky tape and my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp it in two shorter lengths, so it would fit the cover better.

Why sticky tape? Use it to cover the part of the stamp that you do not want inked up, ink the entire stamp, remove the sticky tape, and stamp as usual. The part of the stamp that was under the tape will remain 'clean' and will not leave an image. As for the back cover? 'The End' of course!

This is what the inside of the mini book looks like (pre-cartooning). The spine of the book is an accordian fold - the number of pages in the book depends on the number of mountain folds, and can be adjusted to suit. A length of ribbon sandwiched between the double coaster covers prevents the accordian spine opening out too far, and also doubles as a way to hold the mini book closed.

These little books are great for mini scrapbooking projects, and make wonderful gifts. The colour used in this one is Baja Breeze (card, ink, ribbon, and patterned paper).