Another DIY notebook tutorial!

Hey all!

Its finally happening! I'm posting a craft tutorial (hehe).

Now those close to me know how much I LOVE stationery... particularly any paper products, and notebooks are my favourite thing to personalise.

Over time I have found various ways to put my own mark on notebooks, one of which I shared with you back here. Now here is another, slightly easier and less time-consuming tutorial, which I hope you do enjoy!

You will need:

A ring bound notebook

Background paper (I have used vintage book paper)

Stencil

Permanent marker

Scissors and craft scalpel (I left them out of the pic, sorry!)

Modge podge or craft sealant (You can use my home-made sealant from this post)

Firstly gently loosen the ring binding and remove the cover. Be careful to not bend the ring binding too much out of shape.

Glue selected backing paper onto the cover, ensuring that it is the right way up for when you reattach it! Then trim around.

Position the stencil you wish to use where you want it, and colour in with a permanent marker.

Ta Da!

Seal the cover with the craft sealant.

Using the craft scalpel, carefully carve out each of the binding holes.

Finally, reattach to the notebook (the right way up!) and enjoy! A beautiful, personalised notebook has been created!

I hope you do enjoy this tutorial, and let me know what you think, or what you would like to see next. Cheers!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Merry Christmas all!

I apologise for my absence recently - I have been on a crazy road trip with my family these past few weeks! What have you all been up to?

Anyway, here are my favourite Christmas finds for this week! Enjoy!

Decor from CraftyLou2

Cards from Cardtorial

Card from laLagracepaper

Decor from SignsOfLife

Necklace from fantasticgift

Plush from MarigurumiShop

Jewellery from KParDesign

Decor from AmeliyCom

Card from TaikaEarth

Tutorial - DIY hand-bound notebook

Hey all!

The inspiration for the tutorial this week came after receiving a lovely vintage supply kit from Lisa, over at Lisa's Craft Shoppe! I mean, what idea doesn't come to mind when you open up this package:

Anyway... :D

I searched around for a notebook tutorial, but ended up creating my own. Keep reading for the how-to!

Materials:

Two pieces of cardstock (I honestly just cut a blank card in half!)

The paper you wish to bind, cut to the size of the cardstock, plus one scrap piece

Bits and pieces to decorate... as mentioned earlier, my notebook features vintage ephemera from Lisa's Craft Shoppe

Glue

Scissors

Craft sealant - either Modge Podge, or make your own (click here for the tutorial)

A thick, strong needle, like a binding needle

Twine or thread

Ruler

Pencil

Here we go!

Step One

Start gluing the decorations onto a piece of cardstock... don't worry about bits hanging off the edge... you can clean those up later...

Well, now haha. Trim off the excess bits.

Step Two
Cover this with the sealant and allow to dry (it will dry clear, I promise!). Repeat with a few coats. The more coats, the glossier it is!

Step Three

On the scrap piece of paper, draw up a binding template. You can use whatever measurements you wish - I ruled the puncture points 1 centimetre in and in 1 centimetre intervals.

Step Four

Use this template to puncture the binding on all of your pieces of paper and cardstock.

Step Five

Time to start binding! First, secure the pages with a peg or clip, with the two pieces of cardstock as the covers.Using the twine and needle, use a stitch of your choice to bind the pages. I used a running stitch, which doubles back on itself, however, blanket stitches also look really good. Check out this pinterest board for some good book-binding tutorials.

Step Six

When you have bound the notebook, you are done! Well, almost, haha. Just need to tie off and trim the twine, finishing by applying glue to the knot for security. NOW you are finished!

 TA DA! Anyway, I must say a MASSIVE thank you to Lisa and her supplies for the inspiration for this project! Keep watching this space for more tutorials featuring these cuties!

You can check out Lisa's Etsy shop here and her Facebook page here.

Also, remember to let me know how you go! I would love to see your own notebooks and inspirations!

20% all stock in etsy store!

Hey all!

To celebrate the opening of A Little Touch of Crazy on Etsy, we are offering 20% off the product price on purchases over AUD$10.00!

Just enter the following coupon code at the checkout: open01

So what are you waiting for? Click here to head over to the shop!