This is just the first lesson for making a memory book. This will describe how to make the memory book spine and cover. Over the next week I will have 14 pages for you to make to fill the memory book.
As a Mom I would love to get this book even without pictures! As a grandmother my mother would be thrilled too. Making the memory book spine and cover are an essential first step in making this book. There are two download files for this project. Make sure you get them both.
What You Need:
- Several sheets of white cardstock
- Cardboard
- color coordinated cardstock
- glue
- Download Files
The first thing to do is choose your colors. I went and bought a set of pastels, browns and purples for this project. you will get to see what all 3 look like. There are four main colors for this project in the download files. They are white, pink, purple, and blue. In the cover file I used different colors for the pink , purple and blue so that you could choose which color you wanted to put where. Once you start on the pages you will want to keep them the same throughout the project. I will give you some tips once we start on the pages.
Paper Selection
The spine, the pages and the wrap around for the spine are all white. I used some tan for the spine so you could see the difference. Once you choose your color theme for the memory album pick one of those colors for the cover and two others for the cover decorations.
The weight of paper doesn’t have to be too heavy except for the grey (it is grey in the download files) pieces of the cover. These must be cardboard I used the back cover of a paper pad I had finished. It is completely covered so use what you have laying around. Everything else was 90 lb weight or so.
Cutting the Files
The files are easy to cut. It is the gluing that is difficult. I used a black pen to write. Don’t worry the Xs and Os will be covered up. They are just there to help tell what to glue together.
Assembling the Spine
The spine is made from the two pieces with all the Xs and Os on them. There are quite a few score lines. Re crease the score lines and fold them both ways to loosen them up. Glue the two pieces together with the longer tabs on each unglued end. Glue the pieces with the Xs together back to back same with the Os. You will end up with a piece that looks like the first picture below (yours will only have one set of letters on them):
Now take the white pages and glue each one between an X tab and an O tab. Be generous with the glue. Press the X side, the page and the O side together rather heavily They will look like the second and third pictures above. This is the memory book spine. Set it aside and let it dry.
Assembling the cover pieces
Glue the front and back over the cardboard. Line them up well or the cardboard will show. Don’t glue the embellishments on yet.
Next, take the long piece with the scallops on the ends and lay it flat. Figure out where the middle is. It can be a little off but try to be close. Glue the middle of the dry spine to the middle of the scalloped piece. Make sure to properly line up the top and bottom and make sure they are straight . Use a lot of glue and press the spine down between the pages.. This is holding your whole book together.
Final Assembly
Glue (picture 1) the covers over the scalloped piece. It will not reach the ends of the cover (picture 2). Make sure you cover up the large tabs of the spine ends and get the cover flush with the first and last page holders (picture 3). When closed the cover will look like picture 2 above.
Now you can go ahead and put the embellishments on the outside of the cover. Give the strap lots of room for the book to expand. Once the pages are added it can get very thick
And now your Memory book Spine and Cover are done and you are ready for the pages. We will start on them tomorrow.
Your memory book looks lovely. May I ask what size the pages are & the completed size please?
Thank you
The book pages are 6 inches high by 5 inches wide.
I would love to download the files. Thank you!
To download files you need the password. To get the password sign up for membership into The Crazy Cricut Lady Family at the sidebar or on the pop up form.