DIY Network

Baskets
Beading
Boxes
Candles
Children's Room Decor
Clay
Clothing
Dolls
Faux & Other Finishes
Flowers & Foliage
Furniture
Garden & Patio
Glass
History
Holidays
Jewelry & Accessories
Kids Crafts
Lamps & Shades
Linens & Fabrics
Memory Crafts
Metal
Natural & Homemade
Needle Arts
Organizing & Storage
Painting & Staining
Paper
Photo Projects
Quilting Techniques
Recycled Objects
Ribbons & Bows
Rubber Stamping
Scrapbooking

Croppin' USA
Crops
Materials
Organization
Software
Techniques
Templates
Themes
Tools
Web Exclusive Projects
Other

Special Days & Gifts
Stenciling
Storage
Tabletop Decor
Toys & Games
Walls & Floors
Wedding
Wirework
Wood & Leather

BEST OF CRAFTS

Puttin' On the Knits
Knitty Gritty
Creative Juice
Sewing for the Home
Scrapbooking: Flowers
Scrapbooking Basics
Scrapbooking: Holidays
Scrapbooking: Vacations

SPONSOR LINKS

Leaf Accordion Book (Web Exclusive)

Fill a leaf-shaped accordion book with images of the glorious days of late summer and early autumn. Use patterned origami paper as a background or your own favorite paper.

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

By Holly Christian
Craft designer and writer

While there are still plenty of leaves on the trees, pluck a pleasing shape from your garden or yard and use it to create a leaf-shaped accordion book. Or use our leaf template, designed specifically to be used with standard six-inch origami paper. Our book is six pages long; make yours as long or short as you like.

Click here for the Leaf Accordion Book template

Template may be viewed by using

Materials:

Leaf template
1 sheet of 12" x 18" colored paper
8 sheets of 6" square origami paper (six sheets for inside book, two sheets for covers)
Transparent tape
Ruler
Spray adhesive
Straightedge
Craft knife and self-healing cutting mat
Small sharp scissors
Photos, journaling and scrapbook supplies necessary for filling the book

Use scissors to cut out the leaf template provided, or make your own template with a leaf from your garden (figure A).
One strip of colored paper (6"wide by 36" long) forms the foundation of the accordion book. To make this long strip, first measure and cut the 12" by 18" colored paper lengthwise so you have two pieces of 6" by 18" paper (figure B).
Place the two pieces of 6" by 18" paper end to end, face down, and join with transparent tape. My paper was two-toned green, dark green on one side and bright green on the other. I chose bright green for the outside of the book so I placed that side face down.
With the long strip of paper in the same position, use spray adhesive to attach the six squares of origami paper, one by one, to the paper. This origami-lined side will become the inside of the book. Begin by aligning the first sheet of origami paper with the taped join line, which will be the middle fold of the book (figure C). As you add the remaining squares of paper, leave a skinny space between them instead of butting them up against each other. This will allow for neater folds later.
Standard 6" origami paper is actually not a full 6" square, so there will be a bit of excess colored paper along the edges and ends of the long strip after all six origami squares are in place. Use a straightedge and craft knife to trim away the excess paper.
Use spray adhesive to attach one sheet of origami paper to the front of the book and one to the back to form covers.
The strip of paper can now be folded accordion-style into six pages. There's no need to measure; just fold carefully along the vertical edges of the glued-on origami squares. Keep the top and bottom edges of the book even as you fold, and smooth and flatten the pages as you go.
On the outside of the book, lightly trace around the leaf template, lining up the edges of the template with the fold lines of the book, then cut following the drawn template lines (figure D). It's not possible to neatly cut through all layers of the folded book at once; use the template as necessary to transfer the pattern, and fold the pages back and forth, cutting two or three pages at one time.
Fill your little book with photos and journaling as desired.
Note: Precision is necessary for this project to turn out well. Be sure to carefully align all the squares of origami paper with one edge of the long strip of paper, and align them vertically with each other as they're being glued to the strip. Align the leaf template with the edges and sides of the origami squares. When cutting layers, be sure the pages are folded flat and held securely so they don't shift as they're being cut.