How to make an ATC book

[Debs]

I hope this makes some sense!

For the book itself, you need 2 peices of thick card..I used some mount board - 16cm by 20 cm, and one piece of card 2 1/2cm x 20 cm.


You then need some A4 trading card wallets.  They are 3x3 so hold 9 cards, you need to carefully cut off the top row (they can be used to make a long skinny book) and then cut off the end two so you are left with a 2x2 sheet which will hold four cards each side.  Do not cut off the side with the holes punched!!!!

So..from this......

to this.


Then take the long skinny bit of card, and using the inserts put a pencil mark through the pre-punched holes top, middle and bottom.
Pierce holes in the card and then lay the insert over it, have the inserts coming from both directions as this makes the book neater.


On the uppermost sleeve, lay a strip of sicky ribbon (or use d/s tape and normal ribbon)  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT..if you don't do this, the brads will slip through the holes in the inserts and then all the inserts will fall out.....just trust me on this one  OK!!!! ROFL

Make holes in the ribbon and push brads through all the layers..
ribbon, inserts and the strip of card.
Fold the brad backs to secure and put a lenght of d/s tape over, but do not peel backing off yet.

[Debs]

Now we can cover the book.

For this one I have used an old piece of denim, (for my first one I used funky foam and felt)

Lay out your material and position the spine in the centre - remember to leave enough material around the edge to fold over to make a neat hem. Also leave a small gap between the spine and the front and back so that it closes properly



When you are happy with the positioning, peel the backing tape off of the spine and stick down.
Stick the front and back into place

Put some d/s tape around the tops and sides of the inside and fold the edges in.....this gets a bit fiddly where the inserts are attached, but is do-able!



the outside should now look something like this.....

[Debs]

Once the outside is done, you can decorate the front and fix the fastner in place at the back
(I do this now, so any brads used are hidden when the inside lining goes on)

To make the fastner, I attached an old stretchy hairband/head band with three brads down the back of the book


The front I decorated with Amys name and a few flowers that were braded through the front  cover.  I also used some sticky ribbon at the edges which to keep neat I folded over onto the inside

front

inside front

[Debs]

To cover the inside, I cut two pieces of felt slightly smaller than the original cover size and stuck them into place





Finally shut the book, stretch the band over to hold shut and prevent the ATCs falling out of the top..and VOILA!!

One ATC book!!!!!!



please feel free to make comments and suggestions
as I said, this was made from memory of a 5 minute nosey of Carrick book (Which she bought!!!!!!)
any ways that you can think of to make it easier, please let me know.

For the record, the first one took me about 4 hours, this one, including taking all the photos took about an hour and a half

Happy crafting!!

my first try.....badly scanned


the pink one has 8 sleeves  - holds 64 cards
Amys has 4 sleeves - holds 32 cards

(I stuck a pocket in my one inside the back cover for received swaps)

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