How to Make a Heart Book

I was busy today working on lots of new art projects....most are still drying but I thought I'd show you this Heart Book.

I apologize for the dark photos but unfortunately in Winter we have very short days...I'll try to get some natural light photos tomorrow.

See Below



I love shaped pages and any shape that is symmetrical works well with this application, pumpkins, apples, fir trees, snowflakes, etc, etc.

NEW PHOTO

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- thin cardboard or chipboard
- heart template
- assorted papers
- glue
- scissors
- paint
- colored paper
- hockey tape
- embellishments
- needle and thread

PROCEDURE:

Trace out a heart on thin cardboard.  This will be your template when cutting out your pages.

You can make the heart any size you want.

Trace and cut hearts out a variety of papers.  I used vellum, wrapping paper, painted paper, book pages, wax paper, etc.

You need at least 10 hearts to make a nice book.  Fold them in half, they should all fit nicely together.

You want to bind these papers together separate from the covers.

I'm using thread but you could sew them on the machine or use a stapler.  Just make sure the binding runs along the fold line.

Now you want to make your front and back cover.  Cut these out of thin cardboard or chipboard.  I wanted mine quite a bit larger than the heart pages.

Paint or add color/decoration to the inside of the covers.  I'm staying with my heart motif.



You might want to outline where the heart pages will be when planning your design.

Turn the covers over and set them side by side.  We are going to join them together with hockey tape which makes a great binding.  It's very flexible, easy to use, and widely available.
Leave a little gap between the covers.

The gap helps the covers move freely when opening and closing.

Take a piece of hockey tape and tape the covers together (leaving the gap in place).

Trim off the ends of the tape with scissors.




Press down on the tape to make sure it is stuck on thoroughly.

You should be able to open and close the covers quite nicely.

Now you can finish the covers.  I went with paper but you could use fabric or paint.

I measured out a rectangle of paper slightly longer than the length of my covers.
Coat with some glue, leave the fold line free of glue.
Fold your cover paper in half and put into place, close the book so you leave slack in the fold line, let dry folded.

Open the book and put some glue where the heart insert is to go.

Put the heart pages in the book.  Pull them up a bit in the middle before the glue sets up.  This enables the book to be fully open.

Now you can leave the heart pages as they are....use them to add text or illustrations but if you are not adding anything to them here is a tip to get them to fan out nicely.

Starting on the first page add a little glue to the top of the page, turn the next page gluing the tops together.

Now  put a little glue at the bottom of this page and then turn and glue the next page to it.


Keep up this alternating pattern, gluing top then bottom thru all pages.

This will give you a nice honeycomb type effect like those tissue decorations we have all seen at showers and weddings.

Add text.  I used the computer and then added some color to my words.

Glue your words into place and now embellish as you see fit.


I added a few sequins and some more hearts.



That's it.