Small Notebook

As you may have read in one of my previous post, I love journals. 

One day last month, I was surfing Amazon to buy yet another journal book so that I could organize my very long task list. Ordinarily, I would have gone to the Dollar Store but we were in COVID lockdown and the non-essential stores were closed and non-essential shopping was prohibited. I am not one to disobey rules (much) so I was online shopping. 

I was looking for something inexpensive. It was just a journal/notebook to list my tasks. Amazon did not provide such options. As I sat there at my computer in my craftroom thinking of my options, ideas from recent memory keeping and travel journal YouTube videos that I had been watching came to me. I would use items in my craft stash and make my own journal/notebook.

The notebook's final measurement is 5 by 7 inches

Join me in making your own notebook.

Supplies you will need:

• 1 sheet of 2 sided cardstock (pattern on 2 sides) (8.5x11 or 12x12) - This will be the notebook cover
• 4 sheets of decorative paper (pattern on 1 side) (8.5x11 or 12x12)
• 8 to 12 sheets of copy paper (8.5x11)
• 2 sheets of white cardstock (8.5x11)
• twine
• piercing tool 
• foam pad, foam board, panel cut out from a cardboard box
• binder clips
• paper slicer
• adhesive
• Stickers to decorate
• corner rounder (optional)
• sewing needle with a big enough eye for the twine but small enough to go through the premade holes

How to:

• Cut your papers down to the following sizes:
• 2 sided cardstock - 7 by 10 inches
• 4 sheets of decorative paper - 6.5 by 9.5 inches
• 8 sheets of copy paper - 6.5 by 9.5 inches
• 2 sheets of white cardstock - cut in quarters - 4.25 by 5.5 inches

• Fold all sheets of paper in half, except for the 4.25 by 5.5 white cardstock.

• Round cover corners - optional.

• Stack the papers as follows, matching the folded centers:
• 2 sided cardstock - cover side facedown
• 1 sheet of decorative paper - pattern facedown
• 2 or 3 sheets of copy paper
• 1 sheet of decorative paper - pattern facedown
• 2 or 3 sheets of copy paper
• 1 sheet of decorative paper - pattern facedown
• 2 or 3 sheets of copy paper
• 1 sheet of decorative paper - pattern facedown
• 2 or 3 sheets of copy paper

• Clip the stack together.

Behind the stack of papers is a foam pad

• Pierce a hole at each end, ⅜ of an inch away from the cover edge. Pierce 8 other holes evenly spaced between the holes at each end. You should have 10 holes in total.

I forgot a hole and had to add one later

• Cut a length of twine around 20 inches long.
• Starting from the cover side, pass the needle through the first hole (it doesn't matter at which end you start), leaving a tail approximately 3 inches long.

• Pass the needle through the second hole and tie off the tail of the twine with the length that you will use to sew the notebook together. I used a square knot.

• Continue sewing the notebook by passing the needle up and down through each of the holes.

• Tie off the last bit of twine on the cover side of the notebook. 

• Glue or tape the 4.25 by 5.5 inch sheets to the middle of the patterned side of the papers.

• Decorate the cover and the pages (optional) with stickers.

Be careful. Making these cute little notebooks can become addictive. 

It is definitely a good way to use up papers that you may not love anymore. They may not be up to par for a scrapbook page but they look lovely in the notebook. 

Rope Bowl

I have been wanting to make a jelly roll rug (a modern version of the braided rug) but I am not ready yet. I don't have the supplies, I haven't picked a colour combination and I don't know where in the house I would put the finished project. Which is too bad because they are so cute.

I regularly watch my favorite crafting sites for new images (embroidery, printables, cut files) and projects. 

Embroidery Library posted a beautiful rope basket with an image embroidered to the bottom. Seeing this post, I had an "Aha" moment. I could try my hand at a rope project and give the finished basket as a gift. 

It took a while to find the right type of rope. I thought my local hardware store would carry this but to my dismay, they don't. I ended up ordering the rope from Amazon. The embroidered image, I had previously purchased from Embroidery Library. You can use any open design image. I chose the "I Love Quilting Wreath".

The basket turned out to be more of a bowl. It was a fun project and I learned a lot while making it. 

I learned that it is a fairly simple project and next time I will give it a gradual curve, not such an immediate one (the difference between a deep bowl and a shallow one).