Altered File Folder 6 Pocket Book

A happy day for me is spent cutting, pasting, painting, collaging, and making books! This altered file folder project combines all my favorite things in one colorful package!

I was inspired by these pretty papers from Lawn Fawn to use red, black, and a dash of blue for my main color palette.

The base for the book is a standard manilla file folder. A few simple folds are all you need to turn the folder into a book with 6 pockets! You can score at the fold lines if you wish, but I just folded away and burnished the fold lines with a craft stick. I prefer to make the folds before I begin adding any collage materials. The folder will be a bit bulky once you've added all those layers of paper, tape, and paint, so it's easier to manipulate if the folds are already created.

I added layers and layers of torn paper, acrylic paint, gesso, tissue paper, along with Washi tape, fabric tape, and masking tape. Just play with your favorite materials and techniques until you've covered all parts of the folder, or just the parts that will be seen if you prefer!

The inside of the book has two pockets. I tucked in some glittery postcards from the amazing Book for Paper Lovers by Flow magazine, and a quote from that same book that I cut apart. {See a flip-through of this fabulous book on my Instagram account @artfullvintage}

Here's the back cover of the book. The glittery postcard is tucked into one of the side pockets, and a large manilla tag is in the other pocket.

Creating the side pockets is very simple. Just add double-sided tape to the top and bottom edges of the folder as shown. I'm showing the plain folder here, but be sure to add the tape AFTER you have finished collaging the folder!

I hope you enjoyed this fun and easy project and that you will make some file folder books using your favorite colors and materials. Happy altering!
Kimberly