Saturday, July 13, 2013

Decorate a Mini Notebook (Or Any Notebook)

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A little while back, my mom found some nice little notebooks at a crafts store and offered me one. When I first got it, I saw that it was a very plain little notebook, obviously intended to be decorated. Here's a tutorial on how I decorated my notebook. This can also be done with a full sized notebook as well if you want.

Materials:
  • Notebook to decorate
  • Colorful/patterned paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Decorations such as metallic tape or rhinestones











Start by cutting out pieces from the paper that are large enough to cover the notebook covers with a bit of excess on each edge (see image below).


After cutting out the paper, glue it to the covers and trim off the excess. If your notebook is spiral bound like mine, trim the paper as close to the binding as possible, or place the paper close to the binding while gluing it on. Make sure the glue is spread evenly over the notebook surface so you don't have any bumps. I use either the tip of the glue bottle or a cheap plastic paintbrush to spread the glue around. Make sure to wipe off any excess glue before it dries.

This next step is optional for if you use a notebook with a spiral binding. Cut a rectangle of paper big enough to cover the spiral binding and overlap slightly over the paper with the part of the cover with paper on it (see image below).


Glue this in place at the edges where it overlaps. Don't glue too close to the binding since you still want to be able to open the notebook fully and flip the cover under if needed. To cover the seam between the two pieces of paper, I used a strip of metallic tape (see image below right). Make sure to measure out how much tape you'll need before cutting it and add a bit of extra tape to make sure it's not too short. You can always trim off excess tape.



Tape in place.
Measuring out the metallic tape.
 





























































Now you can decorate your notebook however you want! I used some glitter to make a little heart on the front as well as a few rhinestones, but you can do whatever you want. You can also do things like overlapping pieces of paper or even fabric if you have a larger notebook. I would have with mine, but it's so small! I still like how it turned out though. ♥


All pictures were taken by me unless otherwise noted. Please ask me for permission if you wish to use any of them. I'm on Twitter now! @animlolicouture

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