Learn how to make a mini book from one sheet of paper. This is such a simple and easily personalized craft!
True story. When I was dating the guy who is now my husband, I took a leap of faith early in our relationship and gave him a mini book I had made. You might think that could hardly be considered a leap of faith but honestly, for a creative person who struggled at times to share her creations with people, it was a risk.
He could have looked at me like I was a crazy person. He could have laughed and smooshed it into his pocket. It could have been an awkward end to our relationship.
But it wasn’t. He loved it.
I’m not saying a mini book will open the doors for love in your life like it did for me, but it is sure to make someone’s day. I mean, how many people give and get mini books these days? Not nearly enough.
The best thing about making mini books is you most likely already have all of the supplies you need on hand. So, let’s get going and make one!
How To Make A Mini-Book
You will need:
One piece of paper
Scissors
Pens, pencils, paint (as needed)
Scraps of paper, fabric, images from magazines, etc.
Glue stick
I drew out the instructions above because it is much easier to SHOW you how to make a mini book than to write out steps.
Follow the instructions in the picture below to make your accordion mini book. You will have a LOT of tiny pages to decorate by the time you’re finished.
I usually make the mini book first, then I go page by page and decorate them. Let your imagination go with this project. You can take two tiny pieces of card stock or even cardboard and glue them to the front and back pages to make a cover for your mini-book.
Take out old magazines and cut out words, quotes, or bits of images to glue onto the pages. I like to draw images on another piece of paper, cut them out, and place them over images from magazines. You can write a tiny story, write encouraging thoughts or quotes on each page, or experiment with different colors and textures. Honestly, the sky is the limit. The only requirement is that you have fun!
After my husband and I were married, we made mini books for our moms of our wedding photos, which I guess made the circle complete! (Making those gave us some time to put together real photo books for them, and they had a little something to show their friends!)
I’d love to know—have you ever made or received a mini book?
Since you’re here, check out how to make encouragement cards (includes a free printable), how to get back into letter writing with some fun prompts, and how to make write me back cards. (This is my FAVORITE gift idea!)
Mini books are also GREAT for sending in the mail. I have an entire bundle of letter writing prompts, tutorials, and stationery that you can check out here.
I absolutely love your retreat workbook! One of the best purchases I’ve made. —MelAnn
Have a lovely {and creative} day!
This is so cute! It can make such a nice gift. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks! I love making these for gifts. I made blank ones (and included supplies for decorating) for my nieces for Christmas and they loved making their own mini books! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I am totally doing this as a craft with my kiddos today! They’d love it!
Awesome! Have fun! 🙂
Jennie – Thanks for sharing such a great idea! I had not heard of these before but my girls would fall in love with these. They already craft like crazy so they will be excited for something new. Love it!
Would you consider sharing this post over on Simpy Inspired Wednesday’s at simplifiedlife.net? Would love to see you there to share these great ideas!
Blessings,
~Victoria
They are fun to make and thanks for the invite…I’d love to join you!
Very fun. We have made mini books but they were a little different. I like how many pages these get.
cute idea – my daughters would love to make this!
I think they would–my nieces love making these as much as I do. They like to write and illustrate miniature stories in them. 🙂
Such a cute idea (:
Thanks! 🙂
what a fun idea! love that you shared with your future hubby and he got you 🙂 Doesn’t happen every day for sure. These mini books will be so fun to make and share!
🙂 They really are fun to make & I’m glad he got me–could have been really embarrassing! 🙂
Such a cute and fun idea! Thanks!
You’re welcome! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
This is such a cute idea….and you took a huge risk gifting one of these to your future hubby, you must have known he was special when he loved it. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, he is pretty awesome. 🙂 It’s a great thing when someone gets you!
Thanks for stopping by!
So cool! These would be so fun to get the kids to make too. I am a bit of a book addict, so these minis are just amazing. Thanks for sharing.
I can tell you that kids love making these! It is one of those fun crafts where you can actually make them together. 🙂
This is such a cute idea. I think this would be a great project to do with my daughter, too! Thanks for sharing! Visiting from the Lou Lou Girls’ Fabulous Party! -Kate @The Organized Dream
Yes, it is a fun project to do with kids! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I make little books for my kids on a regular basis. My son calls them his “notebooks”. This looks fun, and gives you more pages than any of the books I’ve made so far. I’m going to give it a shot!
Oh, he’s going to love them! I love that these make a lot of pages. Enjoy! 🙂
My kids love making books 🙂 Thank you for sharing! I’ll be sharing on Facebook later today!
Fun! They’ll love these. They are a big hit with my nieces. They like to illustrate them and write tiny stories. Very sweet. 🙂
What a great idea for family gifts. I am excited to help my girls make some for grandparents.
They would love that! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
This is a cute project. Thanks so much for sharing it on Motivational Monday linkup
Thanks, Karissa!
This is just a gorgeous little book! What a lovely idea – and there are so many possibilities! I can just see some lovely little quote books making their way to a few people I know!
All the best,
Eliza.
I love the idea to use this as a mini quote book–it would work perfectly! 🙂
I have 2 crafty girls that will love this! Thx for linking it up at the Thoughtful Spot! It will be the feature tomorrow!
Thanks so much for the feature! 🙂 Kids love making these mini-books! 🙂
What a great post! Love it! Pinned and tweeted. We love to party with you, so I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm. That would be so awesome.
Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls
What a totally cute idea! I will keep this in mind for my next anniversary which is in a few weeks. Since it is little my husband can tuck it away in his pocket and keep it with him or in his wallet.
What a sweet idea! He’s going to love it! 🙂 🙂
This is such a lovely idea — so simple but really effective too 😀
Thanks so much, Stacey. They’re a lot of fun to make. 🙂
help! i followed the directions but the mini-book did not turn out like
an actual book – was it supposed to fold several times normally and
then take a turn and go a different way…? no matter what i tried, it did
not look like your finished diagram with one page following another in a
straight line. love the idea, tho – and your example with the art and quote is
just precious.
(i ended up just cutting the strips up and taping them so it would be one straight
accordian-style line of pages like your diagram)
Oh no! I’m sorry about that. One of these days I need to make a little video to show how you fold on the corner because it folds into itself and feels a little backwards but works. I just made another one with that diagram and it worked but a video would help. (on the to-do list!) I’m glad you were able to salvage it. Have fun working on your mini book! 🙂