Surprise Book

A palm-sized mini accordion album, 2⅜ × 3⅜ in: two covers with a tie ribbon and six pages. Each page has its own surprise — a pocket with a tag, a heart window with an insert, a secret flap, an envelope with a note, a fold-out heart, and a heart on a stick.

Hard
6 pages with surprises
15 pieces
2 Letter sheets

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 1706

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

2 Letter sheets — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
Markers
Pencil — and eraser
Ruler — 8–12 in
Scissors — small
Glue stick — or PVA glue
Empty pen — to score the folds
Thread or string
Glass — phone stand

Steps

Sheet 1

Sheet 1: white sheet. The white sheet should be under the camera now. The template has 2 sheets.
Accordion: outlines. Two strips, drawn with a ruler: a long one, 9½ × 3⅜ in, and a short one, 7½ × 3⅜ in. The pages will fold from them.
Accordion: folds. Fold lines run across the strips, every 2⅜ in; on the short strip, the first one marks off a ⅜ in tab. Dashed and dash-dot lines alternate — draw them just like on the screen.
Inserts: outlines. Three small pieces: the insert, the note, and the label.
Inserts: drawing. Every piece has a heart and lines for words. You’ll write the words in at the end.
Color: inserts. Color the hearts with a red marker. Trace the writing lines and dashed lines thinly.

Sheet 2

Sheet 2: pink sheet. Remove the previous sheet and put the pink sheet in its place, lined up edge to edge. Don’t move the phone — the scale stays the same. The sheet is white — the parts get their color at the coloring step.
Covers: outline. Two rectangles, 2½ × 3½ in, drawn with a ruler: each cover is ⅛ in larger than a page.
Covers: drawing. A dashed frame along the edge and five little hearts in the lower half — on both covers.
Pockets: outlines. Two pockets with a notch at the top, a frame, a tag with cut corners, and a heart on a stem. The heart in the frame is a window: trace it with a solid line too.
Pockets: drawing. On the pockets: a heart and a dashed line along three edges; on the frame: a dashed line all around and three little hearts under the window. On the tag: a circle, a heart, and lines; on the heart’s stem: diagonal stripes.
Fold-out pieces: outlines. A flap with a tongue, an envelope with a pointed end, and a double heart.
Fold-out pieces: folds. The flap has a line near the top edge, the envelope has two lines across, and the heart has a short line in the middle. The dash-dot line is only on the flap.
Fold-out pieces: drawing. The flap gets a heart in a frame, the envelope gets corners and a small heart, and the right half of the double heart gets a heart inside a heart.
Pink. The paper is white, but these parts should be this color on both sides: color them up to the outline, then turn the sheet over and color the back.
Color: covers. Little hearts in red. Outline the frame with dashes, like a line of stitching.
Color: pockets. Hearts and the stripes on the stem in red; dashed lines and writing lines with a thin line.
Color: fold-out pieces. Hearts in red, dashed lines and corners with a thin stroke.

Cut

Cut out: accordion — 2 pcs. Cut out both strips. Take your time on the long sides: a straight edge makes a straight book.
Cut out: inserts — 3 pcs. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.
Cut out: cover — 2 pcs. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.
Cut out: pockets — 5 pcs. Cut out the two pockets, the frame, the tag, and the heart on a stem. For the heart window, poke the middle of the heart with the tip of the scissors and cut from the inside along the line. Don’t crease the frame.
Cut out: fold-out pieces — 3 pcs. Cut out the flap, the envelope, and the double heart. On the heart, don’t cut through the connecting strip in the middle: the heart folds along it.

Accordion

Long strip. Score the three fold lines with an empty pen along a ruler and fold the strip in a zigzag: dashed line — mountain fold (away from you), dash-dot line — valley fold (toward you). The folded panels line up at the edges.
Short strip. Score and fold the short strip the same way. Fold the narrow tab at the edge toward you — the strips will be glued together with it.
Glue the strips. Put the long strip on the left and the short one on the right, tab toward the long one, both with the lines facing up. Apply glue to the tab and cover it with the edge of the long strip exactly up to the fold line: you now have one strip of seven panels.
Fold into a stack. Fold the whole strip along the folds: the seven panels lie in a neat stack. Trim the edge that sticks out, then unfold the accordion again.

Covers

Front cover. Lay out the accordion with the lines facing up and the long part on the left. Apply glue to the whole first panel and set a cover on it, design side up, hearts toward you: it sticks out 1/16 in on each side.
Label. Glue the label to the top part of the cover. You can write a name on it.
Ribbon. Flip the accordion face down, like turning a book page: the back of the last panel is now on the left. Stick a strip of double-sided tape across the middle of it, edge to edge, and press the middle of the ribbon onto it — leave the ends equal in length.
Back cover. Apply glue to the whole panel around the ribbon and set the second cover on it, design side up, hearts toward you. Press down and keep it under a book for a minute.

Check

Tie the bow. Fold the accordion into a stack with the covers on the outside. Bring the ribbon ends out to the front from both sides and tie them in a bow on the front cover.
Stretch out the accordion. Untie the bow and pull the covers apart: the book stands up like an accordion. Pull out the tag, lift the flap, open the envelope — everything should move freely.

Done. Your surprise book is done. Write in your wishes, tuck in small photos — and tie the bow.

Make it with your phone camera