Miniature Monday: Easy Books Made from a Magazine, Tutorial

Make miniature books from your old magazines using these simple steps.

Find a magazine that is as thick as a miniature book. It has to be glue bound and not stapled.  I'm using an old Rolling Stone magazine that is 1/8" thick.  I was purging, and wondering why I had a stack of magazines the same size from 2011.  I was honestly shaking my head about my hoarding ways, until I remembered what I had planned on using them for. Now I feel rich!!

I used my T-Square to get an accurate cut as possible.  You're going to use the spine of the magazine as the spine of your mini books.  I cut about 5/8" from the spine.  This is the width of the book.

Cut your books the desired height, mine are 3/4" tall.  I used my T-square again, but I found that when I got closer to the bottom, I had more control without it.

I then covered the books with book cover printouts (re-sized from the internet), leather scraps, origami and scrapbook papers.  I also resized some handwritten journal pages and made a few open books.  The way the pages fan out are perfect.  If you need to, you can slide a bit of glue in between any pages that don't want to lay as they should. While the glue is wet, shape the pages.

This is a quick alternative to cutting individual sheets to make the pages of your miniature books that gives you a more realistic look than wood blocks.  Remember to use a fresh blade in your craft knife and take your time cutting.  You should use several slow strokes to keep your blade steady. I was able to make all of the books in the photo from one magazine spine.  Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!