Fancied Up Notebooks

Back to School will be here in just a few weeks (I know this very well since I go back to work before the teachers do...boo!) and the school supplies are showing up in all stores sales ads. Here is a fun way to jazz up a boring notebook. You could title the front "Journal" or put a fun quote on it. I used leftover scrapbook paper (turns out I much prefer scrapbooking via Snapfish), .25 cent notebooks and some ribbon from my fabric box. This would be fun on the mini size composition notebooks too. Great for students, or keep one for you to keep track of projects you want to make, or put it with your church stuff!

Supplies

1 composition notebook
2 pieces of paper for the front and back
1 piece of contrasting paper for the spine (optional)
1-1.5 yards of ribbon
Spray adhesive

I don't know how uniform the sizing of composition notebooks are, so you should probably measure yours before using my sizing.

Place a piece of paper inside the front cover with the top edge lined up and the left edge lined up along the black tape binding. Trace around the edges lightly with a pencil and cut out. Repeat for the back cover (it SHOULD be the same, but sometimes they are off just slightly). This will give you just the right size to cover the front of the notebook, leaving the black binding exposed.


If you want to cover up the binding you'll need to cut a rectangle about 3 1/4 in x 9 5/8 in. I tried covering the binding with the exact same size as the black tape, but it kept coming unglued, so I tried covering the binding first, about 1 inch wider on each side than I needed. This worked much better. You could just leave the black binding if it goes with your color scheme.


Print up and labels or quotes you want to put on the cover.

I used spray adhesive to first attach the binding cover (do a dry run first). Spray both the back of the paper as well as the notebook binding. Place the paper on the spine, then roll the spine to get the paper to adhere (that way you won't get any creases).


Now attach the front piece, lining up with the top of the book as well as the original black tape, again spraying with adhesive and repeat for the back (I recommend that during the dry run you mark the paper so you know which edge is the top).

Glue on any labels.

To add the ribbon, use a hole punch to make a hole at both the top and bottom of the back cover. I liked mine about 2 inches from the right edge and as far down from the top that my punch would let me go. Thread ribbon through and tie off. I used 1 yard of ribbon, but I wish I had had just a bit more.