Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3

Move over humdrum photo albums, cuz we got a new photo case in town.

It’s the fantastic photo flip-flap!

A cheap and simple way to display your photos in neat-o book form, the flip-flap is named for the unique noise it makes when you open it!

Flip flaps are neat because you can see all the photos in the book at once instead of flipping through page by page by page, as is the case with regular ol’ photo albums.

Why go out and get some generic photo album when you can make your own that just requires some scrap paper, some folding, and some adhesive?

Make a Photo Flip-Flap Album

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Why Give a Flip about the Flip-Flap

Flip-flaps conveniently hold 12 of your horizontal photos—enough to document each of life’s various adventures & events.

They’re easy to make, so you can always make more of ‘em as you have more adventures!

Perhaps you’ve seen similar photo flip-flap books at one of them swanky hipster shops. No need to break the bank to get ‘em—make ‘em quickly and easily with this handy tutorial!

Flip-flap Fixings:

• 12 horizontal photos, printed at 3″ X 5″
• Scrapbook paper or any scrap paper—not too flimsy yet still foldable
• Scissors
• A ruler
• A pencil
• Double-stick tape or glue

STEP 1: Spine Time

With your ruler and pencil, measure out and mark a 9″ by 10″ piece of scrapbook or scrap paper.

This piece will be the spine of your flip-flap.

STEP 2: Cut it out

Use scissors to cut out your flip-flap’s spine.

STEP 3: Mark Your Spine Up

Now you’re gonna measure and mark up spine of your flip-flap.

Using your ruler and pencil, make 1″ marks on the top & bottom of the spine’s length.

Since the length of your spine is the 10″, you should have nine marks for each 1″ measurement.

STEP 4: Do the Accordion Fold

Using the measurement marks you just made as guides, you’re going to do an accordion fold.

First, lay your spine so that the marks you made run horizontal.

Using the first 1″ marks, make a fold up and away from you.

This fold should line up with the next 1″ marks.

For the second set of 1″ marks, you’re going to fold down—so opposite of the first fold you made.

Ta-da! That’s the start of an accordion fold.

Repeat these two alternating folds until you’ve folded every mark you made.

STEP 5: Photo fillin’ time

Now that you’ve crafted your flip-flap’s spine, you can start filling it with your awesome photos!

Lay out your flip-flap’s spine so the folds are vertical.

Note that doing the accordion fold has divided up your spine into ten 1″ sections.

You’re going to glue or tape on your photos on every section of the spine except the very first and last sections.

Take one of your horizontal photos, flip it over, and put double-stick tape on the edge of its right side.

If you don’t have double-stick tape on hand, glue will work, too.

Line your photo up with the top of the spine in the second section and press on it to stick it on the spine.

STEP 6: The first page

Take another one of your photos, and put tape or glue on the right edge of its back side.

You’re gonna place this photo in the same section as before, but lined up with the bottom edge of the spine.

STEP 7: Page two

Wahoo! you got one “page” of your photo flip-flap done.

Now you’re gonna make the second “page.”

Take another one of your photos, flip it over and apply double-stick tape or glue, but this time on the left side of the back of your photo.

Place this photo in the third section of the spine, in between the photos you put before, facing the opposite direction of those photos.

STEP 8: Fill Up Yer Flip-Flap

You’re going to repeat Steps 5 through 7 with the rest of your photos, alternating directions with every other section of the spine.

You should have 3 rows of 4 photos each, with the top row facing the right side, the middle row facing left, and the bottom row facing right side.

Yay, your photo flip-flap is almost done!

STEP 9: Craft your Covers

With your photos in place, all you have left is to make the front and back covers of your flip-flap.

Use your ruler and pencil to measure out 2 pieces of 5.25″ by 9″ of scrapbook or scrap paper.

Cut your covers out with your scissors.

STEP 10: Frontin’

Take your cover-less flip-flap and fold it down flat, with the front side of it facing you.

Put double-stick tape—or glue—to the frontmost, loose flap of the spine.

Line up the left edges of your front cover with the spine, and press down to stick it to the spine.

STEP 11 Back cover action

Repeat Step 10 for the back cover of your flip-flap.

STEP 12: Finished Flip-Flap

Label and/or decorate the front cover of your flip-flap, if you’d like.

Your flippin’ sweet photo flip-flap is done!

Open it up to hear its glory and to see all your lovely photos!

Take your flip-flap yonder

• Flip-flaps are super versatile—they can be made into a personalized b’day card with pictures throughout the years, or as an anniversary gift to commemorate all the married years, as shown in the photo above!
• Fill your flip-flap with even more fabulous photos! To do so, start with a longer spine. Each 2″ added to the length of the spine would add 3 more photos to your flip-flap.
• Have a bunch of those wallet-sized photos you got from all those school years? Make a flip-flap for these little memorable snapshots!
• For those of ya who like to scrapbook your photos, flip-flaps can be crafted into neat little scrapbooks like this!

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