Inspiration {M}

Mini maze books are simple to make and require the minimum of materials. They are approx. 3 1/2 - 4 inches square so are an ideal size to give as gifts or make keepsake memory journals for yourself!
I have even made these with the children I work with and they have filled them with images of thier favourite things/ memories of people or animals who are no longer with them.

To make a maze book you will need:

- a 12 x 12" piece of thin(ish) card

- Stiff card / chipboard - cut into 2x 3 1/2 - 4 inch squares.

- Patterned paper of your choice for cover

- adhesives - I used double sided tape and Herma roller.

How to make:

Start with 12" card and fold in half, with fold towards you. To make the fold lines crisp you can either use a bone folder or the blunt edge of your scissors.

Fold top flap over back towards the original fold and yourself.
Turn over and repeat.

Open up and place card so that the fold lines are verticle to you, and repeat the 3 folds you made before.

When you open up the card this time you should have 6 fold lines and 16 squares that look like this

Now you need to make 3 cuts which I have marked out with pen for you to see. Make sure you don't cut too far!


Following the folds in the card, fold concertina style until you have a book shape


Put the book to one side and make the covers using your thick card/ chipboard squares and patterned paper. I cut my card to 3 1/2" and the paper to just under 4". Cut the corners off the paper and mount card onto back of paper, as shown Then to ease folding score paper along edges of the card with embossing stylus or similar tool.
Fold over all edges and stick down securely.

There are various ways to finish your book. You will need to decide whether you want to use both sides of the pages so that it's a double sided/ ended book or if you want to fix it to only open in normal book fashion. The book I made for this blog has a concertina type spine which I made using the reverse side of the paper and attatching it to the covers before fixing to the book.
I have also made one previously, lacing up the spine

I have great fun making these books and hope you will too!