Custom Made Notebook

By Spotlight

Turn any spiral or comb bound notebook into a custom journal. Showcase your favourite things with this rebuilt notebook.

Exclusive design for inspiration from Helen Bradley.

Final Result

Materials

• spiral or comb bound notebook
• small photos (approx 3cm x 4cm)
• assorted scrapbooking papers
• 5 manila page dividers
• rubber stamps for journalling
• felt tip pens
• die cut shapes including curly braces & frames
• distress inks in old paper, black soot, fired brick, shabby shutters, worn lipstick, vintage photo
• shipping tag & library pocket
• rub on corner elements
• rub on letters & punctuation
• rub on monogram
• assorted stickers
• 2 travel themed shipping tags
• chipboard flowers
• fabric tag
• recycled decorative tin element - we used a light switch plate
• acrylic paints
• 2 diamante brads
• paper adhesives
• dimensional adhesives
• hole punch
• sandpaper
• stapler
• scissors
• paper trimmer

Step 1

Start by pulling the notebook apart. You may find it useful to photograph the notebook as it is disassembled so you remember how to put it together again later on. Remove the binding and set it aside. Remove approximately one quarter of the pages to make room for the index cards.

Step 2

Lightly sand the covers - inside and out to provide some tooth for the paint. Paint the covers with acrylic paints and set aside to dry. When dry, ink around the edges of the covers with distress inks.

Step 3

Measure the manila dividers to get the correct depth for each page. Trim each to fit the book. Punch holes to match the holes in the original book or take the pages to a copy shop and have them punch the pages for you.

Note, we could only get double the number of holes that we needed at the copy shop but the spacing of every other one was right so we settled for that.

Step 4

Here’s how we decorated our book: Cover
Affix a small photograph to the cover underneath the opening in the light switch plate.

Affix two jewelled brads to the light switch plate and adhere the plate to the book using dimensional adhesive - you might need to put a weight on the tin plate to keep it adhered until it dries.

Apply rub on alphabet to spell ‘favourites’.

Step 5

Inside cover
Cut scrapbook paper the size of inside cover and adhere.

Paint over the paper with a light wash of white paint.

Cover a library pocket with scrapbook paper and adhere to the page. Add a sticker to the library pocket.

Tuck a shipping tag with inked edges and a large monogram letter inside the pocket.

Step 6

Page 1
Paint around the edges of the page and stamp a title in paint along one edge.

Affix small pieces of scrapbook paper including a punched circle to the page and add photos.

Stamp lines and write the journalling.

Step 7

Page 2
Paint over the page with a semi-dry brush and draw around the page with a felt tip pen to create a border.

Affix a series of small photographs to the page and add die cut curly bracket with hand-doodling on them.

Stamp lines and handwrite your journalling.

Step 8

Page 3
Ink the edges of the page with black soot distress ink.

Attach a small piece of scrapbook paper across the page with the photo mounted to it.

Apply rub on letters and punctuation symbols to the page.

Stamp lines and curly bracket and handwrite your journalling.

Step 9

Page 4
Ink around the edge of the page with fired brick distress ink.

Tear a corner from a travel tag and affix scrapbook paper to make a replacement corner.

Adhere small photos to the shipping tag using a stapler and adhere to the page.

Stamp lines and handwrite journalling on the page.

Step 10

Page 5
Ink lightly around the edge of the page using shabby shutters and black soot distress ink.

Adhere small pieces of scrapbook paper to the page and a small die cut element.

Adhere photos and a die cut curly brace to the page, stamp lines and add journalling.

Step 11

Page 6
Ink around the edge of the page with fired brick distress ink.

Cut a journalling paper in half and adhere to the page with assorted scrapbook papers and a punched circle.

Adhere photos, stamp lines and complete journalling.

Step 12

Page 7
Affix a long narrow strip of paper to the page and half a journalling block.

Adhere photos along one edge of the paper.

Handwrite journalling and ink the edges of the page.

Step 13

Page 8
Ink the edges of a page with fired brick and worn lipstick distress inks.

Apply corner rub on elements to the page.

Adhere small pieces of scrapbook paper and a small photograph.

Cut a chipboard flower in pieces and adhere a portion to the page.

Stamp lines and write journalling.

Step 14

Page 9
Paint the page using a dry brush.

Adhere scrapbook paper to the bottom half of the page.

Cut out floral and swash elements from a second sheet of paper and apply to the page.

Add photo, lines and handwrite journalling.

Step 15

Page 10
Ink the edges of the page with vintage photo distress ink.

Affix a travel tag to the page with assorted die cut elements, chipboard flower and a photo.

Handwrite journalling around the edges of the elements on the page.

Step 16

Inside back cover
Adhere a torn strip of scrapbook paper to the bottom of the page and add a die cut corner element.

Affix photos and stamp a line and curly braces using burnt umber paint.

Handwrite journalling and doodle around the edges of the torn paper.

Step 17

Back cover
Ink the edges of the page with black soot distress ink.

Affix a fabric tag, scrapbook tag, photo and die cut brace to the page.

Step 18

Assembly
Intersperse the page dividers throughout the pages which make up the notebook.

Gather the pages together and reassemble using the original binding reversing the process you used to disassemble the book.

If you’re using a spiral bind you will assemble all pages at once. With the binding system we used, it is easier to assemble the pages first and add the covers later.

Handy Hint

Hardcover notebooks that can be altered and reassembled like this can be purchased for very little at any discount store.

Handy Hint

This restructured notebook can be made as a gift for a family member or friend to use as a journal or notebook when travelling or for any occasion. As the notebook pages are used up and removed, what remains is a decorative mini book that can be treasured for years.

Handy Hint

Notice that many of the pages of this book feature decoration on only half the page. This design structure is very ‘in’ right now and it features small elements (often cut in two) grouped together in a small area on the page with the rest of the page left empty.

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