Decorating a Composition Notebook
I love to journal, but for some reason it’s always more enticing when my journal looks good. By that I mean, there’s a certain aesthetic quality that draws me to it. Decorating your own journal is a great way to have it reflect you or the purpose of your journal. Maybe you’d like a book to jot down the funny things you hear your kids say, chronicle your spiritual journey, write your own recipes, or a daily record of a trip–personalizing a journal is a great way to accomplish that.
Materials:
- 2 sheets of cardstock, size 8.5 x 11 or larger (This will be for the cover of your journal)
- Optional: 2 sheets of cardstock, size 8.5 x 11 or larger (This will be for the inside cover.)
- 1 sheet of cardstock, size 8.5 x 11 or larger
- Optional: ribbon, buttons, or other embellishments
- adhesive (and/or glue gun)
- paper cutter
- scissors
- ruler
Directions:
- Cut the 2 sheets of the cover paper 9.75 in x 7 in.
- Using your adhesive, adhere one sheet to the front of the notebook and one sheet to the back. The paper will not cover the binding.
- Trim the corners of the paper to fit the curved edges of the notebook. The easiest way to do this is by opening the notebook and trimming. This enables you to see the corners rather than simply guess.
- If you’d like to cover the binding, then cut 1 sheet of paper 9.75 in x 2.5 in. If the traditional black binding fits with your scheme, then leave it and skip to Step 6.
- Using your adhesive, adhere the sheet to the binding. It may overlap just a bit, that’s okay.
- Optional: Cut the 2 sheets of the cover paper 9.75 in x 7 in.
- Using your adhesive, adhere one sheet to the inside front of the notebook and one sheet to the inside back
- Trim the corners of the paper to fit the curved edges of the notebook.
- Ribbon (Optional): A) Cut a piece of ribbon 20in. B) Using your adhesive, adhere the ribbon along the edge between your binding and cover starting on the front, wrapping around the inside of the journal, and returning to the starting point. C) If you’d like, at the starting point tie a ribbon or place a button (or other embellishment) to give a seamless affect.
- Buttons (Optional): Taking your buttons, simply adhere them along the edge between the binding and the cover paper. They can be arranged in a straight line, rows, sporadically across the cover, or in a curvy line. Basically, any way you’d like them.
- Embellishments (Optional): The placement of your embellishments will depend largely on the size and type of embellishment you have chosen, as well as the theme of your journal. The same guidelines may work well with your embellishments as with the buttons. Just remember if you choose to use brads or eyelets, these will have to be applied before you adhere the cover paper to your notebook.
