The start of a new year is a good time to start sorting and organising so over the next week or so I wanted to look at some ideas for creating things that help with organising your scrapping. I've also been using papers and goodies from last years kits to make these so if you have kit leftovers pile them into a box and grab them together to see what you can create with them. Putting them together gives you an idea of what will mix well with what.
For today I've got an idea to create a 'scrapbook notebook'. I use notebooks or loose sheets of paper a lot for scribbling down ideas or sticking things in or trying ideas out before using them on cards or scrapbook pages so a notebook is always an invaluable thing to have in your supplies to keep your inspiration going.
This is a simple bookbinding technique too so you can take the idea and make your pages from anything you want to. Maybe you want to make an art journal - make your pages from heavy weight paper or a mixture of handmade paper and watercolour paper that will take lots of ink and paints. If you like keeping a journal for writing in how about a mix of scrapbook papers with lined paper so you can make a book of mini scrapbook pages and pages of journaling. Making your own book is a great opportunity to make it exactly what you want.
For the inside of this book I wanted to make pages that I could try out ideas on so I've included pieces of scrapbook paper and I also wanted spaces for sketches so I've made some plain paper with squares printed on them so the squares can be filled in with an idea for a scrapbook page. I've also included plain pages where I can make notes or other things like magazine clippings can be glued in. That could be another idea for a notebook, going through all your old magazines and clipping out what you want to save and gluing it in your finished book. OK onto the step by step!
Step 1
Start out with a piece of paper and cut it to 12 x 6 1/4 inches then fold it in half.
To this folded paper I added some plain paper pages. I wanted to pre-printed squares on the pages so I made a print out sheet with a square on one half of the paper. I've uploaded the sheet as a PDF which you can download here if you want to use the same one. I printed off five sheets then put the same sheets back in the printer and printed the sheets again on the backs so each sheet of paper has the print on both sides. I've cut the pages down to 6x6 inches when folded. This is the stage you can adapt your book pages to suit you. Print off lined paper or grid paper or use handmade papers or watercolour papers for your pages - anything you want to make your pages from use it at this stage.
Put the five folded pages inside the folded scrapbook paper.
Repeat these steps and make six of these mini booklets using different scrapbook papers for the outer bits.
At this stage you need to fix the outer page and the inner pages together. With my book I've used a sewing machine and a large loose stitch. alternatively you could use staples or use hand stitching just making two or three large stitches just to keep the pages tacked together. If you are sewing use a paper clip to hold the pages together while you sew to stop them moving around. Sew along the fold.
For the next step you'll need a piece of wide ribbon, (I've used a scrap from the Candy Floss Cart Quirky Kit) two binder clips, (or bulldog clips or you can use string if you don't have these) and a glue gun. You could use other glue too if you don't have a glue gun but drying times will be longer if you're using a wet glue.
Take the six booklets you've made and stack them together to the edges are neatly matched up. Use the binder clips to hold together the stacked pages. If you don't have binder clips use some string to tightly tie the stack together.
Make sure the folded ends of the booklets are tightly compacted together.
Apply lots of glue gun glue all along the folded edges.
Take the piece of ribbon and push it over the top into the glue so it glues together all the edges of the booklets. Leave it to dry with the binder clips, (or string) still in place.
Trim then fold the edges of the ribbon down and glue down to fix in place and create a neat edge.
Take another piece of narrower ribbon, (this will be your bookmark for inside your notebook) and fold down the end adding a bit of glue to fix it down.
Glue it to the top edge of your ribbon spine letting the edge of the ribbon trail out of the top of the book.
Next I've made the book cover. Measure your spine and book cover and cut out a piece of cardstock, (this one was also from the Candy Floss Cart kit) to a size slightly larger. Score some lines down the middle of the cardstock the same size as your spine. Mine ended up 3/4 inches so I've made a 3/4 inch gap down the middle of the card and scored lines along side it. Because I'm using up a piece of 12x12 cardstock and my book pages are 6x6 I needed to make my cover 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches so I've cut out some strips of card from the cut off part and glued them to the edges to make the finished cover the right size.
Next you'll need to create your cover decoration. I'm using up papers so I've gathered together my cut off paper pieces from making the mini booklets earlier and added in a couple more paper pieces from my box of kit left overs. I've cut the pieces down to 6 1/4 inches and then cut them in half to use as strips to decorate the cover. The middle strip I've scored in the lines again like on the cover piece so it folds nicely when the book's finished.
Here's all the pieces glued to the cover. I've added some decorative stitches too.
To decorate the book spine I've cut out another piece of paper - this was a paper scrap from the 'Homemade' Quirky Kit Lite.
I've glued this to the spine and then added the title on top with the gold stickers from the Daily Countdown Quirky Kit.
Next it's time to fix the middle of the book to the cover. To start with you'll need two 6 x 12 inch pieces of scrapbook paper. Go for ones that have a nice weight to them. I've picked out two Websters Pages ones. Score then fold the paper pieces in half with the patterned side you want to show facing inwards.
Use the glue gun again and glue the left side of the paper up to the fold on the left side of the cover then fold the paper back over.
Apply more glue to the top edge of the book page section, don't get any on the spine or your book won't open out properly, keep it on the front edge where the ribbon wraps over.
Fold the page section over like you're closing the book and press the edge down so the glued area sticks to the folded paper opposite.
Repeat all this with the back of the cover too.
Your finished glued book should have a gap along the spine when it's closed up like this:
Use your binder clips again to hold your book together while it dries completely.
Here's my finished scrapbook notebook. I've added a little bit of decoration to the front just using a cluster of sticker embellishments from kit leftovers.
Inside I've got the printed squares to fill in with scrapbook sketches and plain sides for notes and spaces for adding in magazine cut outs or printouts.
I'll be back on Sunday with another idea for you to create ribbon and twine wraps from your kit leftovers to help organise your supplies. I've got a layout idea to record your new years resolutions too using the Daily Countdown kit.
x Leo
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