Saturday, February 5, 2011

Explosion Book Tutorial ~ It's a blast!

I've been thinking about how to execute this explosion book tutorial for a while now, and this afternoon I got down to it. It looks a little crazy, but it's actually very easy and when you give it as a gift the result is always "Wow!" I promise.

The book is constructed of three equal squares, folded in quarters and then once diagonally. A 12x12" piece of cardstock makes a nice 6" finished size. {For the purpose of this tutorial I used an 8x8" square so I could photograph it more easily.}


After you have folded each of the three squares, you fold the diagonal folds inward like this: {I'm sure there's a proper origami term for this type of fold...but I'm at a loss...}
So here are my three squares, folded and ready to assemble. Easy so far, right?
Ok, this was tricky to photograph on my own. And wouldn't you know it? A nice cloud cover for today's otherwise sunny Arizona skies...
I use a glue stick to assemble the pieces. The center square gets flipped over so that the diagonal fold parts go backward. The first and third squares have the diagonal parts going inward. I hope you can you tell by this photo:
You just overlap the squares to attach all three folded pieces together in a row...
Then you scrunch it down to create the book:
Now it's time to embellish your book. Here's a helpful tip: cut your patterned paper (or photos) slightly smaller than the base area. You want the book to be able to fold back together easily, so avoid gluing anything close to the creases.
See how I've left a little space around the edges?
Now you can add photos or phrases and let your imagination go wild.
Attach your cover piece to the front:
And a ribbon to the back:
Tie it up and give it away. :o) Maybe?
And as if that wasn't enough photo overload, I'm going to close with a few pictures of explosion books from my past. These were made a few years ago and the photos aren't the best, but it will give you an idea for different ways to play with this mini-book pattern.
.
Here's a book I made for my sister documenting her black Friday shopping trip with Carrie and our niece, Britny:
An explosion book I made for my niece Britny for Christmas a few years back:
And a Christmas explosion book I made for our friends documenting our Christmas tree hunt excursion:
I do hope you'll give this design a try!
And do let me know how you like it.
:o)

PS: I really hope this tutorial makes sense. If you have any questions please let me know and I'll do my best to clarify.
PSS: Paper used in my tutorial example is "3 bugs in a rug" - Bee Mine. :o)

29 comments:

Beverly said...

Cool rocks on your header! Thanks for the excellent tutorial, Deb!

Margaret said...

In a million years, I could never do this, which is purely a reflection on me and no reflection on your excellent instructions. But you are very impressive.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Love the new blog header!
Rinda

Amy said...

I have to say I am with Margaret on this one - in every way ... I am all thumbs with this type of thing! Deb, this is an amazing project and you explained it very well ...great new header by the way! :-)

Sian said...

Wow! indeed. This is one I am going to come back to - your instructions look easy to follow and I am now dying to have a go.

And I "heart" your new header

Kirsti said...

Great tutorial...wil have a go at this sometime..and your new blog header is fab but where is your wee turtle(he's very cute!)..have a gear Sunday!! Kirsti xx

scrappyjacky said...

Love the new blog header,Deb.
What a great tutorial....and gorgeous papers.

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

Deb - you are amazing! Going to have to try this with my girl!

Rhona said...

What a great little book, I'm ready to go and pull the paper out this afternoon and have a go! I was going to get rid of some rub ons I've had sitting around for a while but I may now have a use for them - thank you! If I'm successful, I'll put photos up on my blog soon. The tutorial was very clear, well done!
Love the new banner on the blog too!
xx

Cheri said...

I remember not only making these, but teaching a class on them as well!

LOVE the new blog header!

traci said...

that is so cool. one of my scrapbook friends made me one a few years ago. i love it.

Ruth said...

What a clever girl you are! Love them!

humel said...

Love it, Deb - funnily enough, I covered these in my papercrafts class a couple of weeks back! I got my class to make just one 'layer' (ie one piece of cardstock) but demonstrated how to attach more than one together to make the bigger book :-) Your version looks so pretty! xx

PS I'm loving the new blog header too ♥

Unknown said...

Cute tutorial! I love your explosion books and it was fun to see the older ones that I had forgotten about!

And I LOVE the new blog header!! I hope it stays up for longer than just February!

Becky said...

I made one of these with the photos from Penny's 18th birthday party - they are great aren't they? I love the ones you have made :)

Anonymous said...

Love the new blog header Deb.

I made one of these as a 50th wedding card for my parents with photos from their wedding in. I had forgotten and am now remembering how happy they were together. xxx

Kristi Jean said...

Oh, I am SO glad that you posted this! I was about to try to explain it over Skype to my SIL! LOL.

And I LOVE your new blog header (I think that's what it is called ~ where your rocks are at?)!!

debs14 said...

That blog header is so lovely!
At first I looked at that project and thought 'hmmm, that's an awful lot of post it notes involved in there' but then I looked again and it doesn't seem quite so scary. It's such a great way of doing a mini book/card/gift that I may just have to give it a go!

Kristin said...

Cool Rocks in your new header! Lovely tutorial too, I love those books. The first set of papers are gorgeous.

Cheryl said...

love it Deb the tutorial is great and the book is fab x

M.L. @ The House of Whimsy said...

These are incredible, Deb!!! And how kind of you to do a tutorial. I'm SO in love with the papers on this latest one!!!
Happy V-Day,
Mary Lou

Anonymous said...

Your tutorial is great. I made a card version of this years ago, but had forgotten all about it. I'm another fan of the new blog header.

Mom said...

I feel so smug.........I actually know how to make an explosion book! One of the few things I can do! Great tutorial and I, too, love your header. A very good use of your rock collection! xo

JenCoen said...

Love this tutorial so much that I had to link it on my blog!!

Unknown said...

I saw this when you posted it and it hung around in the back of my head until last night, when I whipped one out as a valentine for my husband. Perfect tutorial, as while I've seen them, I've never thought much about them to put one together (or figure out how to)... so thanks for the details. Made it quick. Thanks, too, for the inspiration! :)

Gente de Massinha said...

Amazing!!! thank you :)

Gente de Massinha said...

Hi Deb, I made it for my mother. Thank you very much. I will blog my experiment and link to your tutorial. Again, Thank You :)

Rajeswari said...

Love your tutorial! Am going to deff be making one for my kids. Linking it up in my blog, with due credit to you:)

P Hosford (Whatsoeverish.com) said...

A few years ago I switched to digital scrapbooking and have wondered what do to with all the scrapbook paper I've collected. This is the perfect idea! I find I need to give way too many gifts to women in my church so these little photo books are perfect. Thanks for taking the time to provide simple directions and photos.

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