Paper and Fiber Arts: Accordion Pockets for Scrapbooking and Accordion Bindings for Mini-books

Hello! I've been cleaning up my desk and using up the scraps that have accumulated/multiplied - and which were beginning to take over. It seemed that the best thing to do (mainly so I would not have to spend time filing scraps of paper) was to make gift tags. But then they had to be stored somewhere until needed. Using more scraps to make pockets was my first thought. Then I realized a little book to keep the pockets corralled would be the easiest (and cutest) way to use up more of the excess paper. The pockets can certainly be used alone on traditional scrapbook layouts for hidden journaling or interactive elements. Or they would look cute on a card. Possibly with a gift card or cash tucked inside.

Accordion Binding Mini-Book

This video shows the three different sizes of pockets and how to make the accordion book for containing small bits of paper or other miscellany. Maybe coupons? Maybe receipts? Or what about a cute tag booklet with photos in each pocket? Lots of possibilities with this one!

The measurements are listed below.

The outside cover is made of two pieces of heavy patterned paper. One piece is 12" x 5 1/2". It is scored at 5 1/8", 6 1/8" and 11 1/4". The smaller piece is used as a flap on the front. It is the pink and red piece with the zip strip words and a resin flower adhered to it. The piece is 3" x 5 1/2" and is scored at one inch. This piece is adhered to the 12" piece and the scored part is to form the bend in the cover to bring it to the front.

The spine of the book is one inch wide. If there were no flower on the front cover, it would sit beautifully on a bookshelf.

There are two inside cover pieces which hide two chipboard pieces. The chipboard is cut just a smidge smaller than the two patterned pieces of 5 1/2" x 5" The chipboard spine is 15/16" by 5 7/16". The easiest way to do this, if your cutter doesn't have sixteenth of an inch marked increments, is to cut a piece 1" by 5 1/2" and then cut off a little bit more from the width and length. The accordion binding will cover most of the chipboard. If you do not want to see it at all, cover it with another piece of patterned paper.

The accordion binding is 7 1/2" by 5 1/2". It is scored at 3/4" increments: 3/4", 1 1/2", 2 1/4", 3", 3 3/4", 4 1/2", 5 1/4", 6" and 6 3/4". The first 3/4" and the last 3/4" are adhered to the inside of the front and back covers. The middle part of the binding "floats". In the video, I stuck one side down and then added the pockets before sticking the other part of the binding to the cover. It probably doesn't matter in which order this is done, but it seemed to make it less cumbersome.

There are three pockets in the book. They could all be made the same or all different, as I did here. More pockets can be added, as I mentioned in the video. Each pocket can either be made with a front and back piece or one long piece folded in or near the middle. All of the pockets have side accordion pieces. The first and last segments are what is adhered to the front and backs of the pockets.

Pocket 1 - One Valley Pocket: 8" x 5 1/4" scored and folded in half at 4 inches. The sides are two pieces of one inch paper scored lengthwise at 1/2" and cut to just under 4 inches long.

Pocket 2 - Two Valley Pocket is 8" x 5 1/8" scored at 3 3/4" to create a little bigger back section of the pocket. The two side pieces are 3" wide and scored every 1/2". These are cut to just under3 3/4" long.

Pocket 3 - Optional File Folder Pocket is 10" x 5 1/2". It is scored at 4 3/4". The side pieces are 6" wide and scored every 3/4". Even though the video said the paper was cut at 5 1/2" long, it really only needs to be about the size of the shortest side of the pocket. So just under 4 3/4" is a good size if you don't want it to protrude beyond the top edge of the front of the pocket. If dividers are desired, tuck a piece of cardstock cut at approximately 5 3/8" wide by however tall you want them. I like dividers to stick up a bit over the top of the shortest side of the pocket, so mine are cut about 5".