Notebooks

Do you know those black and white composition notebooks? I've always loved them, but especially when I found some that had graph paper inside. I love to have a notebook or a journal on hand to write down random thoughts or to draw a design or just doodle a quilt block or two. I found, back at Christmas, some instructions for ideas on customizing them and then covering them with Mod Podge or contact paper. I prefer the contact paper and had some books on hand and decided to experiment.


This one is for my sister because of the main stamp, it says "Life is to short to mate socks." The other stamps are inspirational and encouragement. My picture did come out a bit blurry, but also the socks somehow became a double image in the stamp. The paper had a bit of varnish (some shiny spots) on it. Did you know that varnish (or whatever it was) doesn't like ink? It smeared a little bit and did not want to dry for 2 days. But all together, I liked how it looked.



This one was a notebook with graph paper on it, but I wanted to do the cover, just because I've been using it for years and wanted to try something for me. I had just gotten the stamp set "She said" from Unity and was itching to do something. I decided on something simple and colored in the main stamp with markers. I don't have any fancy markers, I love the look of Copics, but no way am I paying 5 bucks for 1 marker. Instead, because I do embroidery, I have a great stash of Sharpies in different colors and used those.

Side note: for embroidery, if your bobbin thread shows up on the top, you can color it in with a sharpie and it usually blends in and lasts for a while.


The back was where I placed the big stamp from the set and then found in another Unity set the dress form and colored it too.


Then I covered it with contact paper and got to use my "new" notebook. Yes, there is a slight bubble in the contact paper on the back, this was my very first one that I did and I hadn't played with contact paper for years.


If I can find some more notebooks for a good price, I'll try to walk you through how I make them. For me, for a notebook, I like a simple look, not to busy or fluffy.