The Craft Box - Notebook Cover

The Craft Box - Notebook Cover

Published in Issue 23, June 2013

Written by Tina from Shinyes

http://shinyies.co.uk

This is what I did...

I rummaged through my craft box and gathered :

Very thick card (saved from a package delivery), 

White card,
PVA glue,
Paintbrush,
Button,
Ribbon,
Clear nail varnish,
Pencil,
Ruler,
Scissors,
Decorative papers,
Silver coloured letter stickers
Notebook.

Step 1.  I cut and trimmed the very thick card, both the same size but making sure that they were comfortably bigger than my notebook. These were to become the front and back cover of the re-usable notebook cover.

Step 2. I began covering my front and back cover with the decorative papers, beginning with the corners. I made sure that there was plenty of excess paper which could be folded over the edge of the covers, hiding the unsightly edges. Using the PVA glue and paintbrush, I continued to cover all eight corners.

Step 3. I covered the rest in decorative papers, again folding over the excess to hide the edges of the very thick card.

Step 4.  I turned over one of the boards and cutting some decorative paper, I covered the back, hiding all the excess papers that had been folded over when covering the edges. I only did this to one of the boards to start with. The other would come a bit later.

Step 5.  I then cut a small rectangle of ribbon and sealed the edges with clear nail varnish to prevent fraying, and sewed a button onto the centre, this was to become part of the fastening for the notebook cover. I then measured a length of ribbon to go round the other board, giving plenty of wiggle room to allow for the extra thickness that the cheap notebook would make. Then I again sealed the edges with clear nail varnish, and cut a hole for the button to go through. After the button hole had been stitched, I had my notebook cover fastening.

Step 6.  Again using PVA glue I attached the button to the front board and the button hole ribbon to the back board, folding the excess ribbon round it's edge. Then I was able to cover the board in my decorative paper, covering the excess paper and the ribbon.

Step 7.  Then it was time to attach the two boards together. I cut a piece of ribbon (you need thick ribbon for this, I would recommend two inches wide) making sure it didn't quite reach the length of the boards. Again I used clear nail varnish to prevent fraying, and glued the ribbon to both boards, leaving a gap between that was wide enough for the thickness of the notebook.

After it was dry, I held my breath and tested that it worked. It did!

Step 8. Then I began drawing out the parts that the front and back cover of the notebook would slot into to keep them in place. I made them slightly bigger than the covers and added tabs that would be used to glue them to the inside of the boards. 

When I came to putting the notebook covers inside, I found that the notebook covers were getting caught on the tabs I had made to glue the housing into place, so I cut the notebook covers down about an inch and they went in without a problem.

Step 9.  My final finishing touch to my completed notebook cover was to use the silver coloured stickers and name my finished  item “Notebook”

All done.

I was very pleased with the result and am contemplating making more of them as gifts for family and friends.

The end result - a beautiful notebook, a heap load of fun and an eagerness to start my next project. Visit Tina at www.shinyies.co.uk