Happy Monday, friend! We are officially in the hot and sticky throes of summer…and I love it! As always, I was super inspired by the latest Better Together Artists’ release in the Print & Pray Shop. Brianna Showalter’s set “Use Your Map” is both summery and outdoorsy and I love the idea of approaching the bible as a map to find the Way. How fun would it be to have a mini place to document my “travels” in God’s word this summer?! Today I’m sharing how I created an interactive mini book to do just that!
I wanted to create a base where I could come back throughout the month and add notes, questions and take-aways from my daily bible reading time. I certainly plan to add to this guy (who doesn’t love a chunky mini book?!) and thought a couple of binder rings would allow me to easily add pieces. But before we get to embellishing, let’s talk about what I used to assemble my mini.
First up, tools! From left to right I used a tiny attacher (stapler), Illustrated Faith tape runner, two 1″ binder rings, a neutral washi tape, a single hole punch and scissors.
While the majority of the book is made up of pieces from Brianna’s “Use Your Map” set, I did look for some items around the house to bulk it up and create some fun elements. I raided my stationery box and found colorful envelopes that matched the artists’ mood board for the month. I grabbed a couple of manila shipping tags and paint cards that coordinated with this set and a vintage map.
From there I began assembling! I printed Brianna’s card set and patterned papers on white card stock and the elements on clear sticker paper. I love having different sized pieces poking out and floating around my minis. This little map was printed on sticker paper, but I chose to back it on one of Shawna Clingerman’s patterned papers from her “A God That Sees” patterned paper bundle.
Next, I made an accordion pull out using Brianna’s card set. This may be easier to understand if you watch my process video, but I laid three cards face down next to each other. One card was left the original size of the printable (approximately 3.5″x 5″) to accommodate the holes. Then I trimmed a half inch off the other two cards. I left a very small gap between the cards and adhered two at time to each other using washi tape to cover the small gap between the cards. The gap allows the cards to fold flat nicely.
To back the accordion, I repeated the process of selecting three more cards and cutting a half inch off two of them. This time instead of using washi tape to adhere them together, I simply used the tape runner to adhere each card to the back of the original accordion. Then to indicate that this piece is interactive, I cut a small piece of Brianna’s faux washi strip paper, folded it in half and stapled it to the outermost card. Voila!
Perhaps my favorite piece of the whole mini so far is this manila tag with a gal studying her map. I printed her on clear sticker paper and, knowing the whole illustration wouldn’t fit on the tag, chose to make sure her hand and the map would fit. I let the rest of the piece hang off the right edge and trimmed away the excess. How fun to then use the back of this tag to journal what I learned in the Word that day!
The last interactive piece was created using a mini mustard envelope. It was super simple to punch a couple holes in the side and leave it unsealed which is great for a hidden journaling spot! Then I adhered this adorable aqua compass illustration to half of the envelope flap using dimensional foam adhesive. This lets me know that I can open it to reveal contents inside :)
And there you have it- the beginnings of a fun summer mini book! I like to read through my bible one book at a time, typically reading one chapter a day with supporting verses elsewhere in the bible. This will be such a fun time capsule documenting what book I was reading and learning from in the summer of 2018! I’d love to hear how you would use this type of project in your bible study time!
Happy trails!
<3 Jillian
additional supplies: Avery 8665 sticker paper | tiny attacher | 1″ binder rings | Bella Blvd wonky puffy alphas in Oreo Black | The rest were either from my stash or the hardware store.
