many crafty types take hundreds, if not thousands, of photos every year. these images usually end up being stored on a computer hard drive and backed up by saving them on an external storage device, by uploading them to an online storage facility or by copying them to a photo cd or dvd.
burning a cd for each batch of photos serves as your “digital negatives” for the images taken, and can be used in the same way that you would use your film negatives. plus you’ve got the added bonus of being able to share those images with others and not have to print them. the cds can then be stored in pockets made from a single sheet of 12″ x 12″ cardstock or heavy-weight patterned paper. each pocket is designed to hold two disks.
materials needed:
- cardstock or 12” x 12” patterned paper
- paper trimmer
- scissors
- adhesive
- scoring blade
- ruler
- pencil
how to:
measure and cut cardstock or patterned paper to 12″ by 8 3/4″. turn the cardstock over so the back side is facing up. all remaining steps will be done on the reverse side of the paper.
use the scoring blade to create lines at the following increments on the 12″ width:
starting on the left edge, measure and score at 3/4″, then again at 5 7/8″ and 6 1/8″.
continue moving the paper to the left and score again at 11 1/4″.
when finished, turn your cardstock counterclockwise and place back into trimmer.
score the final line at 5 1/4″ in from the left edge. your paper should look like this when you’re done scoring:
use the cutting blade on the trimmer to cut out the upper sections of paper from both sides of the cardstock along the scored lines from ¾” in on each side down to the scored horizontal line. refer to the image below.
at the center, measure down 1″ below the 5 ¼” line, and make a mark with a pencil. next, use your ruler to draw from that pencil line to the inside edge of the 3/4″ scored line at the paper’s edge.
cut out the bottom piece with scissors, using your drawn line as a guide. then cut out the remaining piece at the center of the scored lines. the final cuts should look like this:
next, fold in the 3/4″ edges, and trim to match the diagonal cut. use adhesive on the edges and fold the bottom of the cardstock up, gluing them to the cardstock to create the pockets.
after folding the book in half, you can decorate the cover as desired. these little pockets are an easy way to store and share your photo disks.
of course you can always just go to office depot and buy a pack of 50 white envelopes for a few bucks. to each his or her own!
