Mini Accordion Idea Book

I am always writing little notes to myself whenever I have an idea for a project. I was looking for a unique way to organize the random thoughts that fly around in my brain. I came up with this little accordion-style notebook with a fabric cover.

The more I thought about it, I had certain requirements for my book of ideas: it had to be small and totable, and I needed to be able to view many ideas at one time.

What You’ll Need:

-1 sheet of cardstock paper
-chipboard or cardboard
-fabric
-ribbon or string
-white glue
-hot-glue gun

Start by cutting your piece of cardstock into 2 inch wide strips. Take one strip and fold the top down 2 inches, then flip it over and fold down another 2 inches. Repeat until you reach the end of the strip. You should end up with a 1 inch tab at the end -don't cut it off. Repeat for each strip of cardstock.

Next, apply white glue to the tab and attach it to the beginning of one of your folded strips. Pay attention to the direction of the folds so that it becomes one large 'accordion.'

After you've perfected your paper-folding skills, cut out your chipboard and your fabric. My chipboard was cut into a 2 1/2 inch square and my fabric a 4 inch square.

Place your fabric face down on the table and centre your chipboard in the middle. Fold each corner of the fabric onto the corners of the chipboard and hot-glue it in place. The bit of your fabric that is attached to the chipboard should create a square.

Now fold over each side of your fabric over the side of chipboard and secure with hot glue.

It will look like this when you are finished gluing.

To keep my accordion book together, I chose to attach a ribbon, but you can really get creative with this part. String, leather straps with a buckle, buttons or snaps, or a fancy elastic will all do the trick. I hot-glued the centre of my ribbon to the inside of my back cover.

Remember that large paper accordion you made? Get it out and hot glue one end of it the back side of your front cover. Then hot glue the opposite end of the accordion to the inside of your back cover, hiding where you glued down your ribbon.

Voila! Now I can open my little book up wide and see all of my project ideas at once. Okay, so it's empty at this moment, but you get the idea.

Think of all the possibilities for this little project. A slightly larger version would make a great photo album. Can you say Mother's Day!?

How do you keep track of your ideas?