Ladybird books – Retro from Scratch

In this simple tutorial I will show you how to make a cute paper rosette. Once you know how, you will be able to make them in a range of materials and sizes for all sorts of occasions!

You can use any paper to make a rosette but if you’d like to use vintage paper, I sell bundles of 300 sheets at £5 each

These cute rosettes can be used for a variety of things, I like to use in gift wrapping but here are some other ideas:

Get all your equipment together:

You will need paper, knife, ruler, cutting mat, glue, scissors and a stapler plus anything else you’d like to use as an attachment e.g. safety pin, magnet, hair clip etc…

You should have 5 big strips and two small strips – these measure 1cm x 17cm and 1cm x 8.5cm

Glue the five long strips into rings with about a 5- 8mm overlap – try to keep them all the same size.

Now comes the fiddly bit. For your first time you may find it easier to pop a little bit of glue inside the circles to create the figure of 8 shapes and then layer them (with practice you won’t need to do this)

With all the 5 circles layered pop a staple through them to hold them in place – try and aim for the centre as best as possible. (We will be covering the staple up!)

Try and make the triangles as symmetrical as possible. If using ribbon I would suggest folding the ribbon in half and cutting a diagonal line from crease to corner to create the perfect notch, but you don’t want to do that when using paper as you’ll see the crease!

You could glue them but stapling makes them more secure.

Hide the staples with a button or something decorative like a scrabble letter like I’ve used here – a cute way of personalising a gift!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial – if you have a go at making one please share on your social media and tag me @retrofromscratch so I can see it!

Remember you don’t have to use vintage paper to make your rosette – why not recycle some old restaurant menus or unwanted flyers? An old magazine? Or even newspaper? You can make them from ribbon too, just remember to replace the stapler with glue – I recommend Bostick All Purpose Glue

If you have any questions please ask! Happy crafting!

Becky x

Instagram can be a wonderful thing! As you know my business is all about recycling and reducing waste. So when I saw on Instagram last month, that Linzi Loves Books was throwing away some of her Ladybird Book collection – I was quick to ask if I could have her old covers.

A little note from Linzi with many wonderful covers which so many of us would have read when we were little

I’ve been following Linzi for some time on IG and she has thousands of Ladybird Books in her collection now, so much so she can afford to get rid of doubles, and the ones that are so damaged they’re not worth anything. (To collectors at least…)

She had removed the original papers from the books to use for paper crafts but the covers were destined for the bin. She didn’t know if I would be able to save any, but we both thought it was worth a try, so I paid the postage and she kindly sent them over.

Amazingly there were very few that I had to get rid of. The rest, although well loved, will make fantastic notebooks and are available to buy from my online shop, now.

Some of them needed a bit more love than others. For example this Little Red Hen book had an unfortunate sticker on the front cover (often the cause of damage for old ladybird books – charity shops are a nightmare!) however I was overjoyed at successfully removing it!

Let’s face it, we all love Ladybird Books and I think Lawrence Zeegan, author of Ladybird by Design, explains it perfectly: “A Ladybird book evokes strong feelings; deep-rooted memories of a time and a place when a simply designed and cheaply produced book could resonate across generations of readers.”

These books have passed through many generations, and it’s a lovely thought to know they can get a new lease of life as a notebook. As they are a little extra worn and don’t have their original pages, they are just £4 each. (Instead of £6) I have also added a drop down menu on the shop listing if you would like to add metal book corners for an additional £1.

They can be purchased with any of the upgrades from my shop; so they could come with lines, or as an address book, a diary etc.. just add the upgrade to your basket before you checkout.

There are so many things you can make with vintage book paper…

And if you fancy a bit of recycling yourself, you can purchase bundles of leftover paper from my notebooks to make all sorts of wonderful things. I hope to show you some craft ideas in future blogs -watch this space!

Tag: Ladybird books

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