recycled notebook - tutorial

In 42 days I am embarking on a 35 hour, multiple plane journey across the planet with my 4.5 and 2.5 year olds on my own. The only thing that I am thinking about at the moment is entertainment. The 2.5 year old is not interested in watching movies but like her big sister, loves to draw and color. My mum recently reminded me of my first ever published books. Classic titles such as 'The half girl half unicorn and half rabbit thing' and 'Poems' with such gems as; " Witches egg, withes egg, I found a witch and it had an egg." It was 25 years ago. Looking at these lovely bound books using old wallpaper gave me an idea to add to the list of things to do on the plane;

     Materials

•  empty cereal box
•  decorative paper (measuring 1.5" larger than cereal box on all sides)
•  20 sheets plain A4 paper
•  double sided craft tape
•  60" of ribbon
•  needle and thread to complement ribbon
•  small envelopes
•  scissors
•  hole punch
•  ruler

Cut off sides of the cereal box leaving only the front and back. You will only need one of these pieces.
    

1. Center the cereal box card on the wrong side of the decorative paper. Cut the decorative paper so that it is 1.5" wider than the cereal box card on all 4 sides.  
2. Place double sided tape on all four sides, approx. 2" from each corner.
3. Fold and stick down one side of the paper followed by the opposite side.
4. Make 'present' corners on all 4 corners. 
5. Fold and stick down the remaining 2 sides.

    
Fold the paper covered card in half to create the cover of the notebook. Find the center of both the front and back covers longest edge. Punch a hole on each side. Cut 2 pieces of ribbon approx. 18" in length each. Thread a piece of ribbon through each hole and tie a bow leaving one tail long. Use your needle and thread to sew a few stitches through the center of the bows so they don't come undone.
 

Place double sided craft tape to on all 4 sides of one piece of the plain paper. Stick to the center of the inside of the notebook cover. Punch 2 evenly spaced holes in the spine of the notebook cover.
   
Fold all the remaining pages in half. Measure the distance of the holes punched on the notebook spine. Use this measurement to mark where to punch the holes on the loose pages. Thread the remaining ribbon from the outside of the notebook cover inwards. Bind the notebook cover with the remaining pages tying with a bow on the inside. Binding it this way will make it easy to replace the pages.
   
Seal 2 small envelopes and trim off the top to create a little pocket. Use the double sided tape to attach to the inside cover. I used rubber stamps to decorate every few pages for a cute surprise.
  
This given on the plane with a sparkly pen should surely give me at least 20 mins of respite. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Only 34 hours and 40 more minutes to fill.

Comments

[Sandy McAllister]

Cute idea. Will silly putty and comics fit the bill of amusement. I know it entertained me and my sibs stretching out the shapes.

[Tea Rose Home]

Awesome tutorial! Thank you for linking to my party!

[Ruth]

This is a great idea. I will have to put this on my to do list.

Thanks for sharing.

Ruth

[Amber D]

What a great idea! I too am a noatbook girl.

Found you on Tea Rose Home

[Meaghan]

Beautiful, more things to add to my "wish" list. Have printed a copy and put in on my inspiration board.

[gee]

Love the note book. Don't forget some postit note flags.
The plane's toilet has at least an hour of fun; "peek-a-boo in the mirror", "where's the flush?", "what's in the this drawer?" and the old classic "no don't touch that!yukky"

[Shirley@TheMaineReason]

20 minutes of respite isn't bad :-) Try adding stickers that the kiddos can put on the pages too (that could be what I see in the pocket). Fun book project!

[Laurie]

Clever girl. How cute are these!?!

[Kristin]

I want one...x