I love books. And I love crafting. Folded Book Art combines both of these passions. If you have any old books lying around the house, this activity is virtually free. Many of the following tutorials are easy enough for the kids to do, although there are couple of more complicated ones at the end. Any of these creations would look wonderful in your home or make great gifts for book-lovers.

This birdhouse from Thoughtful Images Ink would look great in many different rooms in your home. I remember making these out of Readers’ Digests when I was a kid. I seem to remember spray painting them, but I like this natural look a lot better.

This book birdhouse from Red Hen Home has a roof variation that I really like. I made one myself and the process was very relaxing. I’m looking forward to adding some paper birds.

Check out this paperback Christmas tree tutorial from Kayla Aimee Writes. Wouldn’t these Christmas trees look nice made with a hymnal?

Creative “Try” als also has a book tree tutorial with the added twist of adding a candle holder for the tree base. Sue said that she was able to make three trees out of one book because each one only takes 60 pages.

Another great motif for the holidays is an angel. Helen Th provides a tutorial for this wonderful book angel. I love the affect of the old yellowing pages, especially on the angel’s wings.

Here’s a completely different version of a book angel. This one from My Crazy And So Wonderful Life is made with a hymnal. I really like that the book cover is left on.

Here’s one that the kids would enjoy – a hedgehog! Instructables gives great instructions, as always. After folding the pages of a paperback, just glue on buttons for the eyes and nose and you’ll have yourself a charming pet hedgehog.

Use the same page folding steps used with the hedgehog to make this adorable pencil. Wouldn’t it make a great teacher’s gift? Get the instructions at keep.com.

You can make all kind of abstract book sculptures like this one from Johwey Redington. The introductory lesson comes with both written instructions and a video.

For a little more complicated motif, learn how to make this heart using a page numbering technique at Instructables. The directions for this approach are very clear and easy to follow. Once you learn this method, you’ll be able to make just about any shape you can imagine. You’ll be amazed at all the patterns available on the internet.

There’s one more page folding method that I find very intriguing. In this version (once again, from the awesome Instructables website!), a shape is drawn on the edges of the pages. Then each page is folded to the pencil marking on that page. Not only is there a very good tutorial with lots of photographs, but a video too.

Imagine all the different shapes, numbers, and words you could make into Folded Book Art. Heck, you don’t have to imagine it. Just do a quick internet search and you’ll get more ideas than you can shake a stick at. My daughter-in-law is going to make one of these to give to her librarian friend who is getting married. They’d also make a great gift for someone in your book club, a teacher, a graduate, or just about anyone who likes to read. And making these masterpieces is easy. You just gotta know when to fold ’em.