DIY Book Idea Collector

Heya!

Yes, I've been on a blogging hiatus for two weeks now. Yes, I'm sorry. No, it wasn't for nothing. I was coming up with an awesome new category and here is its first post!

My ultimate goal in life is to make the world a better place, be it with my crafting skills, my music, my books ... And one way to make the world a better place is to make the world less wasteful.

How many times have you bought something that wasn't really necessary or thrown away something you could have turned into something useful? I know, sometimes we just don't have a choice, be it because we lack time or energy or materials to be creative. But when you think about it, almost anything can be DIY-ed. Our planet sure could use a little less stuff on the landfills, don't you agree?

My first project in this series was a simple one. I am such a sucker for beautiful notebooks and planners. Every time I go to a stationery shop, I squeal and drool over those beauties.

For, I think, almost as long I've been alive, I've had a great passion for reading. Books were always my best friends (most of all when I didn't have any real ones) and the desire to read has, over the years, blossomed into the desire to write. I've been working on a couple of books for some years now, and being the notebook sucker that I am, every idea had to have its own.

The great thing about tiny notebooks: they are, well, tiny. They can fit into any bag and are easily portable. The downside of tiny notebooks is, again, that they are so tiny. You can't (I can't at least) have my ideas organized in such a tiny lil' place. I needed something bigger.

After looking at different A5 notebooks in shops, I came to the conclusion that none of them fits all my needs, and, if it does, it's WAAAY too expensive. After looking at some ideas on Pinterest, I decided to make my own.

DIY Notebook idea 1. Source: http://diyready.com/27-easy-diy-projects-for-teens-who-love-to-craft/

DIY Notebook Idea 2. Source: http://mashable.com/2014/08/03/diy-school-supplies/?crlt.pid=camp.K4fDdqwzIp2V#0Z0ExdxKIgqC

DIY Notebook Idea 3. Source: http://www.lilblueboo.com/2014/12/simple-sharpie-journals-and-matching-gift-wrap.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+LilBlueBoo+(Lil+Blue+Boo)

DIY Notebook Idea 4. Source: http://yunpocodediseno.blogspot.si/2015/01/diy-personaliza-tus-libretas.html#_a5y_p=3544239

The first thing I needed was, of course, paper. I've just run out of printer paper and, as I've said before, I'm a firm believer in not buying something unless absolutely necessary. Why buy? DIY!

It was then that I realized that I had recently seen some old notebooks lying around that I've bought over the years, filled up to a third, maybe a half, and then grew tired of them. As they were, they were pretty much useless, because you can't really have a notebook, half filled with recipes, and the other half with book ideas, right? Besides, call me crazy but I CANNOT write into a notebook that has a cover I don't absolutely adore. Sane person here, yes, hello!

Anyway, once I dug up my stash of useless notebooks, and there were quite a lot!!, I carefully removed the covers (still managed to prick myself with the staple a couple of times) and saved them for later.

I'd already decided that the pages would be tied together with a ribbon, because I wanted to be able to add or remove pages from my notebook with ease, and the ribbon was the only thing I had on hand, that I could use to achieve that.

I'd decided to make the holes for the ribbon at the bottom and the top of the paper pages. I took one such page, made holes using a hole punch, and then used the paper as template to position holes on the other pages. I like how half of the pages are lined while the other half are blank J.

Then, I needed to make the covers. I took a piece of this GORGEOUS copper foil (left over from another project) and cut out two pieces of sufficient size. Next, I did something not so environmentally friendly L I laminated the covers to ensure they would not get wrinkled or stained and would, thus, last longer (so it was a good choice, right? Suppose so). I made the holes the same way I did for the pages and used ribbon to tie the whole thing together.

Then, decoration tiiimeeee! Last year (I think), my best friend brought me some stickers from the book fair she attended. The stickers have »THE BOOK WILL NEVER DIE« written on them and I've been looking for places to put them ever since. Because this notebook was meant for collecting and developing book ideas, the sticker was perfect. And because the thing still looked a bit blank, I added a bit of washi tape. Isn't it pretty?

Just perfect for snuggling up to a cup of coffee and scribbling down some great ideas for my next book!

Remember those old covers I'd saved for later when I removed the pages? I used them to make gorgeous dividers for my new notebook. The covers were blue with some kinda piggy illustration on the outer side, and white on the inner side. I turned them inside out (if that makes sense) and taped them together so that the white part was visible. Then I cut a bit of the outer edge off to make a tab. I cut the top part of one page and covered the blue that was visible with copper foil. I then taped the whole thing together with washi tape. I also used some copper foil to cover a bit of writing on the inner side of the cover. I decorated two of the three dividers with copper dots, punched from the foil and glued on, and one by doodling all over it. All of the dividers also serve as pockets – because I'm bound to forget to take the notebook every now and again and will probably write a good portion of my ideas on »independent« little pieces of paper.

I love doodling and I love the end result but boy did it make my hand hurt! And the copper foil is so gorgeous!

In the end, I also added a pen that I found just lying around. By the way: hate it when the filler keeps wiggling around in your pen? I do and it makes the pen absolutely useless to me. But I've discovered a solution to this – simply remove the filler, ball up a bit of tissue or paper and use your filler to stuff it all the way down the housing. Then replace the filler and put the pen together as usual. Try it, it really works!

I LOVE my new notebook. It has everything I need to keep my book ideas organized and it's big enough that information won't get lost in it. Best part? It cost absolutely nothing and almost everything, except for the laminating foil and the washi tape was reused or made from otherwise useless scraps, so, cheap and eco friendly, yay!

You could also use your new, handmade notebook to write down your notes for studying. How to study when you're barely keeping your eyes open? Click through to find out how I do it. It's proven super effective!

How about you? Do you like making new things or is it more convenient to just jump to the store? Why?