Stationery Sunday: DIY Notebooks- Easy to Make and Useful AF!

 Hello Loves! 

For the year's first Sunday I want to share a very, very special notebook duo that I MADE yesterday! 

I MADE!! 

Can you even? 

So little background: So as 2021 was drawing to a close, I realized that several of my on-going journals and notebooks would have several leftover pages. Unused and unwritten and it didn't sit well with me that I would waste said pages. I was low-key stressing out. So I had a bit of a brain wave. I decided to made my own mini-notebooks of the A6 or pocket sized to keep on hand and scribble notes as I read books. To keep track of feelings and emotions and quotes, this will make my reading more intentional and in depth and these notes will also come in handy when I sit down to write my reviews! 

A win all around. 

I wanted to make notebooks simply and decorate them with my jounaling supplies and make then functional and aesthetic and do the most of waste. 

So I used pages from old journals, packaging material from packages I've received all through the year and stickers and washi tape I have on hand. I even re-used a string that came with a stationery package! 

I am so proud of creating the besttt out of waste! 

These are my notebooks!!! 

I mean look how cute. 

I was so engrossed in making my notebooks that I forgot to click a picture of the brown one before the decor. 

But look at the blue one before I put some stickers on it. 

The blue notebook has a horizontal layout, since these are lined pages. I already started using this last night and I am happy to report I love it so much. Super useful and serves the purpose I had in mind. 

The blue notebook cover is a piece of handmade paper in which Joyeeta of Studio Joyeeta sends her brooches and bookmarks. I save them and use them in either journaling spreads and this time it was a ready made cover for my notebook. 

Perfect! 

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN NOTEBOOK: 

1. Find pages you want to use. And tear them out neatly. I used a ruler, you could use a scissor. 

2. Fold pages to the desired size and then use a cover that fits your pages or use a paper (either brown craft paper or chart paper) and then cut it to size. 

3. Make holes for a string to pass through and hold your pages in place. I used a sharp screwdriver, the smallest size I could find, you can use a compass or a thick needle and even sew the pages in place if you know how to, I poked holes and ran a piece of twine through it to keep my pages in place. You can also use a stapler if you have one of an appropriate size. 

4. Bind the pages and the cover together. Use a binder clip to hold the notebook together and give it time to settle into it's new shape. 

5. Then go alllll out and decorate to your heart's content. 

SOME TIPS AND TRICKS: 

The key is to used the same sized paper, if you have mix of paper kinds and sizes I suggest using the larger papers in the start and finish. 

Also super important and useful is finding the sharpest implements you can find. Much easier to poke holes in the pages. 

Start small, use 20-30 pages and then tackle bigger sized or thicker notebooks. 

Have fun and allow yourself to screw up and make mistakes. 

I am using this traveler's notebook cover from The Black Canvas to store and use my notebooks. 

Look at them sitting comfortably and beautifully. 

The notebook shuts comfortably and has three inserts at this point. 

I am also keeping my daily pages journal in this cover for now. 

I used the brown paper the TN came wrapped in to make this journal. 

Decorated with some stickers, washi tape and ephemera I've had a for a while. 

This was such a fun project and I am so happy to see how my vision has come to life. 

Thanks to my sister who did a lit of the actual construction and sewing. I am hopeless at sewing but good at visualizing aesthetic notebooks :) 

I want to make more these as and when I need them and decorate them and scribble away. 

I hope this was useful and maybe it gets some of you to get crafty too.