Wallet-size accordion brag books filled with snapshots make wonderful keepsakes for relatives who have yet to see the full range of baby's first expressions. Use original photos for a single book, or make color copies to use in multiple books. Enlarge or reduce photographs to suit the size of your books.
Tools and Materials
- 11-by-17-inch lightweight art paper
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Wallet-size baby photos or color photocopies
- Heavy paper or wallpaper, for cover (optional)
- Hole punch and ribbon, for bow closure (optional)
:: Brag Books How-To ::
1.
Accordion-fold the 11-by-17-inch paper. Glue a cutout color-copied
picture (below) or original photo to each panel. Trim the paper to
align with the photos' edges (with careful placement, you can make more
than one book at a time using the same piece of paper). Below each
photo, write or rubber-stamp its date, or add captions.
2. To make a cover, cut a piece of heavy-stock art paper (or the wallpaper from your baby's room) to the same height and twice the length of your closed accordion book. Fold the paper in half (or bind together two separate pieces -- one for the front cover and one for the back -- with a zigzag stitch), and glue the last accordion panel to the inside of the back cover (leave the front cover unattached). Punch a hole midway up the right edge of the front cover, and thread it with a ribbon to serve as a wraparound bow closure.
From Martha Stewart Baby, Special Issue 2000
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