Altered Composition Notebook

Now that my hand has healed a bit, I can start to type and get a few posts ready to go with some of these fun things I had been creating prior to the "injury"!!!  However, the hand I always use was the one injured, so it has taken a few weeks to be able to use it AND type while I am at it, without being in tons of pain that is!  Posts will start back up, but not on an exact time or date!  Just bear with me as I work through my injury and getting it back to normal after that.  
    
I made a really fun altered composition notebook and bookmarks right before my hand got broke.  I wanted to share how cute they all turned out, with photos and directions on how to complete the entire project!!!  I am in love with the colors and everything turned out!!!  This is the type of thing that can make an excellent gift for just about anyone, customizing   


Supplies used:

Colorbok Sweet Bloom 2 sided paper (2 sheets plus accent papers)
White cardstock - 3 sheets
White, pink ribbon
Heart, flower Sizzix die cuts
Flower, sun punch
Buttons
Hot glue gun/adhesive
Paper trimmer
Corner rounder
Composition notebook

Directions:
Step one:  Pick out the papers you want to use for your project - 2 sheets of paper for the front and back cover, as well as accent papers for the die cuts.  Cut the 2 sheets in half, you will need 3 6 x 12 sheets of paper total for the front and back cover.  

   

Step two:  Lightly fold the piece of paper you are using for the spine.  Add this piece making sure to put the fold of the paper on the side of the notebook.  Also, make sure to leave the same amount of paper on the top and bottom in order to fold over, cutting a small notch at the top and bottom where the paper is, to get around both sides.       

Step three:  Add the front cover, making sure to line the papers up perfectly, leaving extra paper on the side to fold over as well.  Repeat for the back cover.  Fold the edges up to the inside covers.  Where the top and bottom corners meet, as you unfold the paper, - cut the paper in the corners so you can lay the top fold down, glue down the edges.  

Step four:  Wrap the ribbon around the cover of the album creating your bow where the two colors of paper meet.  (See above photo for placement)       

      
Step five:  Die cut 2 pink, 1 white heart and 4 white, 10 pink flowers.  Punch 3 white, 2 brown, 2 pink suns and 2 brown, 2 white small flowers.  Create the flowers first, and start to place the embellishments on the front of the cover where you want them, adding buttons to the middle of the flowers last.

Step six:  Trim 2 white 8.5 x 11 sheets of cardstock to fit the inside covers of the notebook.  Glue down the front cover - using your favorite adhesive.  Repeat for the back cover.  Turn your book over, and stamp your "designed by" stamp (or your own personal made by stamp) on the back outside cover!  

Step seven:  Create your bookmarks using the leftover supplies!  Bookmark base - 2" x 6" (you can make it a bit bigger if you want...) - square bookmarks - 2" squares, cut 3 - cutting on at a diagonal from one corner to another, adding each piece on one of the squares.  

  Step eight:  Add your own special mark on the back of the creations (including the notebook) to let people know who made them!!!

  

I hope you enjoy this fun project, as much as I enjoyed making it, and sharing it with you! I love the paper pack I purchased from Colorbok, and have done 2 projects now with it! One tip - before you purchase a pack of paper, make sure you can see yourself using the papers included, or most of it anyway!!!  Have fun creating your own altered notebook!  

Lynda Jeffs

Memories in Tyme