By Popular Request -- Flip Book Tutorial

First of all, I want to remind everyone that I did not come up with this project, so I take absolutely no credit for the creativity that it took to be its first inventor. I merely found the directions on SCS and modified them only slightly in the way I attach the ribbon closure. So I'm sure if you were to do a search on SCS or even on the world wide web, you would find lots of places that list the instructions or have tutorials for this little project. But since I post these so often and so many people ask me for directions, I thought I would do a quick tutorial. Many thanks to my DH Bill, who served as the photographer (which made the whole thing go a lot faster than it does when I try to demonstrate and take pictures at the same time).

For the base/skeleton of the flip book (which is the only subject of this tutorial) you will need: paper cutter, paper scorer, sticky strip double sided adhesive, ribbon (I used certainly celery narrow grosgrain), and 3 sheets of 12x12 card stock, 2 sheets of 1 color and 1 sheet of another coordinating color. The 1 sheet will be the cover of the book.

Start by taking one of the 2 sheets of 12x12 card stock that are the same color and cut it in half into two 6x12" pieces. Set one aside.


Trim the remaining piece lengthwise by 1/4" so that you have a 5.75x12 piece of CS. From the other 12x12 piece of the same color card stock, cut 2 pieces each measuring 5.75x12".

Take all 4 pieces of card stock you just cut and score all of them at 3" from each end. If you look at the close-up you will see that I like to position my card stock just slightly to the right of the 3" mark before I score.

Fold each piece of 5.75" card stock along the score lines and put them in a row like you see in this picture. You will be attaching the 3x5.75" edges to form a long strip.

Use sticky strip along one 3x5.75" panel, peel the red tape off and adhere it to another panel. be sure that all the edges are exactly aligned.

Repeat with another 3x5.75" panel. You should now have a long chain of card stock, with 2 3x5.75" pieces forming a "gate" in the center.

Take the other piece of 12x12" card stock and cut it into 4 squares, each measuring 5.75x5.75"

Take the 12x6" piece of the first color card stock and score it at 2.75" from each edge so that there is a 1/4" "spine" on each side.

Fold the card stock along the score lines. It's profile should look like this picture.

Use sticky strip on 1/2 of one of the 5.75" squares of contrasting color card stock. Peel the red tape and adhere the square to one of the 2.75x5.75" panels, making sure to leave an even 1/8" margin all around the three visible contrasting sides. Repeat on the other side. Use sticky strip to cover the entire perimeter of another 5.75" square and adhere it to one of the other contracting color squares so that the overlap over the yellow "flap completely. Do not adhere the last square yet.

Close the flip book and wrap a length of ribbon around it to make sure there is enough ribbon to tie a bow closure. Cut ribbon with your snips.

Use sticky strip to adhere ribbon to cover where the last square had not been adhered yet. This will be the front of the flip book. Add sticky strip all around the perimeter, peel the red tape and adhere the last 5.75" square so that it directly overlaps the other 5.75" square.

Open the flip book and stretch out the ribbon along the outside of the cover so that it lays flat. Use snips to mark a point right above and below where the ribbon falls on the 6x6 panel of the first color. I prefer to do this on top of my fiskars trimmer to make sure I don't scratch the surfaces below. You can also use your paper piercer or hobby blade for this task.

Move the ribbon out of the way and using your snips (Or hobby blade or cutting blade on the cutter kit) cut a line between the two points on each side of the 6x6 panel.

Use the points of your snips to push in just enough ribbon into the slot to enable you to grab it from the inside and pull it all the way through. Repeat on other side. You may prefer to use a stylus for this task as its tip is not as sharp.

the inside of the book should now have the ribbon running through it and coming out the other side in the back. Add sticky strip all along the perimeter. I also like to use a small piece of sticky strip to keep the ribbon in place in the center. Peel the red tape and adhere the long strip of the first color of card stock so that the center panel of the long strip is centered on the center panel of the book cover.

The profile of the flip book should now look like this.

When you close the book and tie the closure it should look like this photo. That's it -- the flip book is now ready for you to decorate as you wish!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It came at the expense of my Convention swaps, but that's how much I love my readers!

Besides, I didn't have much time for swaps tonight anyway -- we spent most of the evening at best Buy returning our wireless router, buying a new router and hiring some geeks from the geek squad. That's right -- I am no longer willing to spend hours of my time trying to money with network setup. So now the geeks will be invading our home in August (that's the earliest date we could find when they were available and we would be home) and doing the installation for us. They're not cheap, but if they save me another week of of misery they will be worth their weight in gold!