Watch the art unfold -- An accordion book filled with tiny collages

During my 2-month immersion in making mini-collages (ICAD 2014), I ended up with a pile of surplus images. Recently I discovered a fun way to use them -- in small accordion books, made out of old manilla folders. 

My inspiration comes from Tammy at Daisy Yellow, who shares her expertise in several video tutorials here.

Here's my first book, side 1:

(I couldn't resist animating them. You can reanimate them by refreshing your browser.) 

Each side has a theme -- sort of. Side one is all about nature. I started by stamping the folder to make a background. Then I added images from an old elementary school science book and leftover pieces from my ICAD project. 

These are my two favorites.

I'm not sure how to characterize the theme for side 2. Maybe "Barbie goes bonkers." The doll images come from my new favorite magazine (for collage) -- Fashion Doll Quarterly. The paper is thick and glossy, and the photos are…well, you have to see them for yourself.

The background for this side is stamped deli paper and altered pages from National Geographic.

Barbie doesn't quite trust that ice cream cone, does she? To keep my spaceman in place, I put him inside the plastic window from an envelope.

One of the things I like best about these tiny books is that, when they're done, they don't take up much room. And I'd be more comfortable giving away a little book like this than a large collage that the recipient would feel obliged to hang on her wall.