Take a Note

Today for Scrapbook Saturday, I don't have a layout to share, I have a fun project with a tutorial!

I altered some notebooks for my downline members who attended the Mini Convention last weekend.  As I was making them, I thought that they would be a great project for a scrapbooker to record favorite quotes or information about events/pictures for journalling purposes.

Each one of the notebooks was personalized with the girl's names.  I was at the event early to help witht he set up, so I set all their notebooks out at their seats as a surprise when they came in.  If I would have remembered my camera, I would have taken a picture of how cute they looked out on the table!

I used the Greenhouse Gala DSP for the top two pieces of the cover and the bottom is Peach Parfait textured cardstock.  The Early Espresso scallop piece was cut with the new Tasteful Trim die in the Holiday Mini...FYI, you're gonna be seeing a LOT of this die in the next little while!!!

Their names were cut out of Early Espresso cardstock with the Timeless Type Alphabet.  Then I accented their names with a punched Daffodil Delight flower (I used the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack).  The leaves are Pear Pizzazz and they are just the 4 petal flower shape from the punch pack.  The centers were punched with the Crop-A-Dile from Early Espresso cardstock. 

I also altered a pen for each them.

The pens are Pentel RSVP pens.  I unscrewed the bottoms and rolled a piece of DSP around the ink part of the pen then slid it back into the pen and screwed the bottom back on.

I love how these turned out!

So, here's a little tutorial for the notebooks.

The first and most important step is to put an elastic around the notebook (and DON'T take the elastic off until you're finished the book!).

Once you've done that, you want to take a pair of pliers and gently bend the top of the coil so that you can uncoil it.  This is why the elastic is important...it will hold your pages together while the coil is off.

If you've bent the coil correctly, the book will uncoil really easily.  Once you have the coil out, you want to gently slide the cover out from under the elastic.  Make sure the elastic stays around the rest of the book...trust me, it's stressful to put everything back together if that elastic comes off!!!

Once you have your cover off, you can embellish it however you want.  When it's all embellished, you want to flip it over and punch out the little circles so you can put the coil back in.

Wind the coil back in and when it's all the way in, get your pliers out again and gently bend the end back into place.

Once you've done that, you can take the elastic off and you're finished!

I did all 10 of them one evening while watching TV with Kevin.  When I started he said, "What, Hilroy isn't good enough for your girls?".  To which I replied (you have to read this with a snotty, sarcastic sort of tone!), "Ah, NO.  Hilroy isn't pretty enough for my girls."  Really, after 8 years of me stamping he knows better!!!  Anyway, when I had them done he commented that they were pretty cool and that they did look much nicer than when I started!!!  Don't tell him I said this, but I think he's a bit jealous because the notebooks supplied for him for work are pretty plain and boring!!! 

Well, that's all for today!  Have an inspired day and we'll talk tomorrow when I share a super fun simple card!