Photo Folio - Step by Step Tutorial - Part #2

Hi there everyone!!  Hope you are having a spectacular day!!

 Well, as promised, I am back to share the second and final part of my step by step tutorial for the little photo folio I made for some gorgeous friends of mine.  I had planned to post this by the end of last week but, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men??  Well, I'm not a mouse and certainly not a man , but mine didn't just go awry, they ran out the door screaming!!!!  Between problems with Blogger, feeling ill, losing our electricity for almost a day then losing our internet for another day ..  life definitely did not go to plan!!  Anyways, I am finally here to share this tutorial.  If you haven't seen Part 1, and you would like to, HERE is where you can find it.

Hope you're all set for another Mega post!!

So this part is about making the cover and putting the folio together.

As I explained in Part 1, for the cover you will need 1 sheet of A3 size cardstock. It can, of course, be made with 12 x 12 sheets but, with the A3 size, it can be made in one piece. 

The Cover

Following the diagram, cut the cover from your chosen cardstock.
Solid lines are cut lines and broken lines are score lines.

Note:  If you are using 12 x 12 cardstock simply cut the smaller sized side flap separately.  Just remember to add an extra 3/4inch to the side edge (making it 4 1/8" x 6 3/4") so you can adhere it to the cover.

I should explain too, that the top and bottom flaps are not as long as the ones in my previous folios.  These don't  actually meet in the middle as the other ones did, but I felt that wasn't really necessary anyway because they are only there to make the outside look neat when the book is closed.

Score 5 lines where shown on the diagram, 1/8" apart.

Lightly bend the cardstock on the score lines.  Don't crease them, they just need to be able to curve around the inside page set.
Round the corners and ink the edges if desired. 

Now the page set needs to be attached to the cover but, before doing this, we need to attach the closure.
If you have an elastic strap similar to the one used on the Tim Holtz Collection Folios (one with the small toggles at the ends which locks it into the book) then, obviously you can use that.  After you have covered the book with your chosen papers  you can simply punch the holes through and insert the strap.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to lay my hands on one of these so I had to make up my own version.

Attaching the Closure

As indicated on the diagram ( X marks the spot!  LOL!!) Place your ruler about 1/2" below the scored lines at the top, then find and mark the center.   Do the same at the bottom.

Turn the cover so that the smaller flap sits at the top.  Place your ruler about 1/2" below the scored lines, find the center and make a mark 1/2" on both sides.

Punch holes where you made the marks.  This is where the elastic closure will go through.

 

 On the previous folios I made, I added eyelets where the holes were punched and then simply glued my paper over the top leaving a hole over the eyelet, which didn't look as neat as I would have liked.  This time, I actually managed to glue the paper down first and then added the eyelets but, it's not as easy as it sounds because of the way I have to add the elastic.  Are you confused??  Not surprised.  All this is really quite easy to do, just a little difficult to explain.  Hopefully, if you take it one step at a time, you will see what I mean.
Anyway, chose the paper you wish to add to the center section of the inside of the cover and cut a piece 41/4" x 61/4" (this will actually end up glued down over the top of the base of your page set).  Ink the edges and cover the back with double sided tape.  Place it about 1/8" from  the score lines on the right side of the center section of your cover but only remove the backing of one line of tape.  You need to adhere the right side only, making sure it covers the holes made previously.  You will then need to re-punch those holes out from the back, using the ones already made in the cover as a guide.

Do not remove the rest of the backing on your double sided tape as yet.

Turn the cover over and adhere your chosen paper to the center section.  This is the back of the book.

You will now need to punch out all four holes through that paper on the outside of the cover.  Turn the cover over again so the inside is facing you.  Re-punch through the hole at the top and at the bottom, while holding the inner lining out of the way.  You can then re-punch the holes at the side through all of the layers.

From the back of the cover, add eyelets to the side holes through both designer papers.  Then add eyelets to the holes at the top and bottom but make sure you do NOT go through the liner on the inside.

Here is how it looks from the outside ..

.. and this is how it looks from the inside.

Hope this is making sense so far.

Cut a 16" piece of your chosen elastic (I used hat elastic .. the thin round type) and thread it through the eyelets as shown ..

.. the ends will sit underneath your inside liner.

As I couldn't find the toggles which lock the ends of the elastic into the book, I decided to sew the ends together.

 To make sure it doesn't slide around too much, put down a line of glue and stick the elastic to the cover.

I also added some sticky tape for extra strength.

Now we're ready to put this book together.

Attaching the Page Set

Attach double sided tape to the back of the base page on your page set.

Before adhering the page set down just check that it fits comfortably underneath the inside liner.    Slide the base page under the liner .. the left hand side should sit about 1/8"  from the score lines on the left and your liner should sit flat over the top of the page set.  If you cannot push the set in far enough or, if your liner is slightly buckled, simply trim a piece off the edge of the base page.
 

When you are happy with the fit, pull the page set out again, remove the backing from one line of tape only at the loose edge of the base page and then carefully slide it back underneath the liner until it is positioned properly and stick it down.   

 
When you're happy with its position, remove the backing from the rest of the tape lines except for the last one on the other edge (by the sew line) as shown below.  Adhere the page set to the cover.

As this edge takes the brunt of the action when opening and closing the pages of the book I think it's a good idea to add a line of glue under the double sided tape for extra strength.

 

You can now remove the backing from the double sided tape on the inside liner ..

.. and stick it down.  There will be a slight bulge underneath from the elastic, but it's not really enough to be a hindrance.

Yayyyy!!

  Your book is now put together and the only thing left to do is create a pocket on the inside front cover, cover it all with your chosen papers and create the photo and journaling mats.

Inside Front Pocket

Following the diagram cut 1 piece from your chosen cardstock.

Score 3/4" from the edge on three sides as indicated on the diagram.

Crease on the score lines, ink the edges and cut off the bottom corner pieces as shown. 

Make sure when you fold the edges of the pocket in that the corners will sit flat.

 If you have rounded the corners of your cover, you will need to round off the bottom left side corner of your pocket as well.

 Attach double sided tape to the scored sections and adhere your pocket to the inside front cover.

Now, all that is left to do is create the photo and journaling mats.

I haven't drawn diagrams for these .. I will just give you the dimensions.

The photo mat for the inside front cover .. cut one - 4" x 6" 

The photo mat for the full pocket page .. cut one - 3.5" x 6"

The journal mats for the double pocket page .. cut two - 4" x 2.75"

The folded card which sits inside the half pocket page ..

Cut one - 6.5" x 6" 

Score at 3.25" and fold it in half.

 Woo!! Hoo!!  It is done!!!!!

You can now finish covering everything with your chosen papers.

I really, really hope this was easy for you to understand.  Putting this book together may seem rather complicated but, when you are actually doing it and taking it one step at a time, you will find it is really quite simple.   One thing I should tell you, due to it's construction, the pages do not sit flat when the book is open .. they actually pop up slightly but it is quite neat and flat when closed.

So, this book is now complete.  Right at the very beginning of this saga, when I shared the books made for my friends, I said that I hadn't as yet made my own.  Well, I still haven't yet made my own.  The book I made while writing this tutorial is also going to a friend.  She said she really liked it so I hope she wasn't just being kind because she is now getting one as well.  I will actually share piccies of it in the next couple of days ... Oh dear, perhaps I should not have said that considering what happened last time!!!!  LOL!! 

I am in the process of making another one, and that is definitely going to be mine!  (I think .. LOL!!)

Thank you so much for sticking with me through these huge posts and a special thanks to those of you who left me such lovely comments.  I really do appreciate your kindness and support.

If any of you end up using these instructions to make your own folio, and you have any problems at all, please just contact me and I will try to clear them up.  Also, please let me know if you've made one and send me a link .. I would love to see it!! 

Thank you so much for visiting and have a great day!!

Take care and God Bless.

Photo Folio - Step by Step Tutorial #1

Hello everyone and welcome to my bloggy space.  Hope you are having a fabulous day.

Here  I am finally, sharing Part 1 of my Step by Step Tutorial for the little Photo Folio I made as exchange gifts for some scrappy friends .. Adriana Bolzon, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and Helen Wallace.

 I have to warn you .. this post is really HUGE!!!  Probably would have been better as a video but, as I don't make videos, I have decided to do it in two stages.  This first stage will show you how to make the inside pages (which is what you need to first anyway) and then in stage two I will share how to create the cover and put it all together.

So, this is what I'll be showing how to make today.

First up though, I would like to thank all the generous people who share their ideas and techniques freely on You Tube.  They are way too many to name but, without the inspiration and little tips from these fabulous crafters, this would have been a lot more difficult to put together.  Thank you ladies and gents.

Hoping this will all make sense to you.

NOTE:  You can use 12 x 12 sheets of cardstock for the whole of the folio but, for the cover, it is easier if you have A3 size.  You can make it with 12 x 12 sheets but with the A3 size it can be made in one piece.  I am just letting you know this so that you can match colour for both parts of the book.
For this part of the folio you will need 4 sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock.   If you do have A3 size sheets you will need less of course.  

THE BASE PAGES.

Following the diagram, cut three base pages from your chosen cardstock.

As you can see, I rounded the corners but that is really not necessary as it all gets covered over anyway.

The base sheets get sewn together so, lay them over each other staggering them, as shown below.  Set your machine at the largest stitch size to sew them.  The larger the stitch, the less likely it is to tear.   If you do not have a machine you can, of course, do it by hand.

I staggered mine about 5/8th inch apart and then did my sew line about an inch in from the edge of the top leaf.

To create the pages, turn the set over ..

.. and, using a bone folder or something similar, crease the first sheet on the left side towards the center.

Do the same for the second sheet.  The bottom sheet is left as is, as this one gets glued to the cover.

Use some sticky tape to secure the ends of the threads to the back to ensure that the stitches don't come undone.  Probably a good idea to knot them first (I forgot that bit).

This is what it should now look like.  You have the base, which gets glued to the inside of the cover, and four basic 'leaves' to create the inside pages of your folio.  Obviously the leaves don't need to be quite as wide as I've made them so you can cut them down if you wish.  I feel though, that the bigger the surface you have to adhere to, the stronger it will be.  But that's just me.

With this basic structure, you can create any number of different types of pages for your folio.  Of course, you can also add more 'leaves' for more pages but I didn't want my folio to be too thick and bulky so, four pages was enough for me.

Now we need to create those 'pages'.

 HALF POCKET PAGE.

Following the diagram, cut out the two pieces from your chosen cardstock.
(The solid lines are cut lines, the red broken lines are score lines)
Ink the edges.  (You can see by the photos that I forgot to do this until after the pocket was finished .. Duhh!!  LOL!!)

To make the pocket, Part B  is glued to the back of the first leaf (the narrowest one) of your base pages and Part A gets wrapped around them.
TIP: To ensure that they fit together properly, you may need to trim a tiny bit off the side of the base leaf and off Part B as well .. this will enable Part A to fit comfortably around without buckling them.  

Adhere double sided tape to the back of the 'base leaf' and then, adhere Part B, making sure it is lined up properly.  (The 'base leaf' actually ends up inside the pocket.)

Score the lines on Part A (3/4 inch from each end) as per the diagram, crease the score lines and cover the inside of each end with double sided tape.
TIP:  To ensure a neat finish it is a good idea to trim a tiny V section off each end starting at the score line.  It's a bit hard to tell from the photo below but you can see it more clearly further down.
You can also see that I cut out a small half circle in the center at the top.  This is optional of course but I feel it may make it easier to pull out the booklet that fits into this pocket.

Wrap Part A around Part B  making sure it is lined up properly and that the tops of the pocket are even.

Remove the backing on the double sided tape and adhere the end to the back of Part B.
Below you can see what I meant about cutting out the V section at the ends.

Before glueing down the other side, just make sure it is still lined up properly.

 To close the pocket at the base, simply run a small bead of glue along the inside at the bottom.  I used Glossy Accents.  The thin nozzle makes it easy to insert under the bottom edge.
The finished pocket (after inking!).

On to the next page.  Hope you're still with me peeps.


DOUBLE POCKET PAGE

Following the diagram, cut two of each from your chosen cardstock. Ink the edges.

These pockets are assembled the same as the previous pocket. Part B is attached to the 'base leaf' and Part A is wrapped around them both.

Round the corners on one of the short edges of Part B.  This will be the top of the back of the pocket.

The first step is to cut the 'base leaf' to create two sections.
Find the center at the inside edge of the leaf (the sew line) and make a mark 1/4 inch on each side.  Do the same at the outside edge.  Draw a line between the two marks and cut this section away leaving about an eighth of an inch at the bottom for strength (this also prevents you from cutting through the sew line).

As with the other pocket, you may need to trim a tiny bit off one side edge of both the 'base leaf' and Part B to ensure a good fit for Part A.

Adhere double sided tape to the back of both base sections ..

.. remove the backing and adhere Part B to each section with the rounded corners at the top as shown.

Score the lines on both Part A's (3/4 inch from each edge) as per the diagram and crease on the score line.

Attach double sided tape to the scored sections and cut a small V shape from each end as on the previous pocket.

When wrapping Part A around Part B to create the pocket, make sure you push it down to the bottom.  Part B should protrude about 3/4 inch above Part A.  Don't push it too tight to the bottom though, leave about a 1/16th to 1/8th inch  as it needs a little space so you can flip the page comfortably. 

The photos below show how it should look.

To close the bottom of the pockets, run a small bead of glue on the inside at the base.

I hope everything is making sense to you thus far.

FULL POCKET PAGE

Following the diagram, cut out the two pieces from your chosen cardstock and ink the edges.

Score Part B as shown on the diagram (2.25 inch from the top).  This creates the flap for the pocket.  Round the edges of the flap if desired.
 

Once again, Part B is glued to the 'base leaf' and Part A is wrapped around them.
Put your double sided tape on the back of the base leaf and adhere Part B making sure it is lined up properly.  The photo shows the back .. unfortunately, I forgot to take a shot of the front .. sorry about that.

On Part A, crease on the score lines ..

.. attach the double sided tape and cut the small Vshapes off the bottom ends.

As with the previous pockets, Part A needs to be placed close to the bottom leaving just enough room to be able to open and close the page.

Again, to close the pocket at the bottom, run a thin line of glue on the inside at the base.

Attach magnets to ensure that the pocket flap stays closed. 

So, now onto the last of our pages.

FLIP OUT PAGE
Following the diagram, cut one piece only.

This is the simplest of the pages to make.  Simply cut it out and score as per the diagram.  Crease the score lines, ink the edges and then adhere it to the last of the 'base leaves'.

Attach double sided tape to the back of the 'base leaf'.

Making sure the page is lined up straight, remove the backing and adhere the largest section of the flip page to the folio base leaf.

Fold your page to the inside ..

.. and it's done!!

That's all folks!!  The pages are now complete and ready for matting .. Yayy!! 

Before you start adding your papers, you will need to trim the base down.  It was easier to do this as a last step rather than try to explain it at the beginning.  Trim the base to about half an inch on the left side of the sew line and three and a half inches on the right side (4" total width).   This will ensure that your pages will fit properly inside the outer cover.

Here is the page set with papers added.  ('Cos I forgot to take a photo before I matted everything.  Duhh!! )  When adding your papers, do not cover the base as yet.  That will get done after it is adhered to the outer cover.

Tip:  When lining the pockets, make sure your paper covers the little

ridge left by the 'base leaf'.  This will ensure that your photo and journalling mats don't get caught on it.  It's not necessary to take your paper all the way to the bottom, just make sure that the 'ridge' is covered.

So, the inside of the folio is now done.  I hope I explained everything clearly enough.  If you have any problems please don't hesitate to contact me either in the comment section or on my facebook page.

As I stated at the beginning, I will post the tutorial for the cover and the photo mats etc.  as soon as it is done.  Trying to make sure that will be by the end of the week.  Have had my granddaughter staying with us so some things had to go on the back burner.

Just a little note:  I have given these plans and instructions freely for you to use however you wish and I am happy for you to share under the same conditions .. for free.  I would just ask that you make mention of where you got them from.  Thank you. 

Thank you so much for visiting and for sticking with me through this huge post.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and, please, if you do decide to make a folio of your own following these instructions, send me a link.  I would love to see it.  Thank you.

Hope to see you here again in a few days for Part #2

Take care and God Bless.