Bobbi-lee of TomandJasmine.wordpress.com starts off this season’s guest contributor cycle with a tutorial on how to make a very personal story booklet:

I made this little story booklet for my sisters 20th birthday which was last week and thought I should make a tutorial at the same time. This little booklet is a great gift idea for the young and old, or it can just be a little book of your illustrations or poetry. Have fun!

First of all you need to do the pages (unless you are making a blank book to draw and write in later then skip this part). I started with an A4 page of watercolour paper and divided it into 15 equal rectangles. Draw your little illustrations in pencil then paint them or colour them with your choice of paints.

Once you have done your little drawings and the paint is dry, outline them in black felt tip marker and write the poem or story in.

Once that’s all done you can cut out the pages neatly with a scalpel and ruler. Don’t cut yourself!

Now comes the fun part. Cut out some strips of paper for the binding. The pieces I used were about 8×4 cms but it really doesn’t matter what size as long as it is smaller than the actual pages. Now fold the strips of paper and glue one side of the fold to one side of a fold on another piece. Keep gluing the folded parts together until you get what looks like a mini book.

Now start gluing the back of the watercoloured pages to the mini book like in the image below. If this doesn’t make sense please let me know-I am terrible at explaining. Keep gluing each page until the book is all glued together. Remember to keep the pages in the right order you wanted and remember that some pages will be back to back.

Now that the booklet is almost done it needs a cover. I cut a piece of cardboard scrap I had lying around. Glue the last two paper strips to the cardboard. The cover is one piece of cardboard not two pieces. Once glued fold it like in the picture. You might need to hold it under some weight (such as another thick book) to help it keep its shape.

Now all you have to do is line the cover with some pretty paper. I chose this gorgeous scrapbook paper that has glittery accents on it. Line both the inside and outside of the cover.

Now you have a cute little story booklet. I tied it with pretty ribbon to give it something extra. You can print a title on the cover, use transfers or stickers or add some beads and ribbon. It’s up to you.