Mini Book Necklaces and Keychains Tutorial

This is a project I have been working on for awhile now! I got the idea from a blog I love Altered Alchemy . She makes beautiful necklaces and books that are so incredible I really wanted to try to make some myself! So this is my version and it's not nearly as ornate but I think they turned out really well for my first try! They are going to be Christmas presents for my sister ,daughter, niece, and a couple of ladies I work with. (I think it's safe to post this now) Well here is a breakdown of how I made these little books:

First I took an old scrapbook and tore the pages into 1.25" x 3.25" strips, folded a stack of four strips in half and sewed the spine with thread, and grouped four of these together. I used a clothespin to keep them in groups

Then I took a piece of card stock and cut it 1.25" x 4.00" and made a fan fold in the middle.

I used glue to attach each of the paper sections into the fan fold.

I measured out some scrap leather I found at Hobby Lobby for covers. they need to be just a little bit bigger than the book pages.

I used my crop-a-dile to make holes and put grommets in the leather. Then I glued the covers onto the paper stacks. Be careful with the glue! I almost glued one book shut from too much glue oozing out onto the pages!

I searched through my jewelry stash to find things that might work on the cover. some were too big and may have to wait for a bigger book!

These two are not quite done yet but I have the pieces picked out to go on them

This is the one I made for my sister Maria. I put some stained paper with some words on it under the key hole and added an old looking key to the chain. I also added some gold stamping around the edges and back after these pictures were taken.

This one is for my daughter Jessi.I'm not even sure what that metal piece is..I found it in a junk drawer and it just seemed to fit!

This is the back of one of the ones for the ladies at work, you can just see the little tooth brush peeking down in the pic...yes I work at a dentist office! I just couldn't resist when I saw these little silver tooth brushes on Ebay!

Well, they are all wrapped up and ready for Christmas! This was a really fun project and I'm sure I will think of new things to do with these little books in the future!