I am coming on the end of a two-week staycation and I got so much crafting done during my downtime! I am feeling very relaxed and also very happy that I got to work on many crafty projects that had been on my mental to-do list. I am nowhere near done, but I at least hit some of the big-ticket items. One of those was to make a disc-bound notebook using the Say Cheese Main Street collection. I had figured out the measurements, done a sample page using the Crop-a-dile Power Punch tool and picked the patterned paper for the divider pages, but I was wondering whether to laminate the dividers pages or not and at that time, laminating seemed like a wiser option but I just was not in the mood to get the laminating machine out that evening, so the project got pushed to the back burner.
I am so happy that I finally revisited the idea and got it finished! My laminating machine was already out tonight to test out foiling, so I decided to get my notebook pages done at the same time, and then I kept going on it. The notebook could have been kept very simple - two laminated papers for covers, cut inside pages, punch holes in everything and assemble with discs, but I decided to organize it a little bit further.
I used pages from the 6" x 8" paper pad to create the cover pages and the dividers. I quickly realized when cutting around the laminated cover pages that if I left a 1/8" border around all four edges and punched, the inner pages would show under the clear left edge of the cover (I hope I'm making sense) so to avoid that problem, I cut the left edge straight to the paper and so everything lined up better that way. I rounded the corners of the plastic using my Corner Chomper (also from We R Memory Makers). For the dividers, I decided to forgo laminating. I wanted to add tabs and it seemed pointless to laminate the pages and not the tabs, and then if I did, I thought cutting the plastic would be tricky (and I didn't want the edges to be sharp either), so I decided I could live with just using paper.
I wanted to have a pocket to possibly house documentation, but I didn't want to hide the foursquare images on my paper, so I decided to add the pocket to the back of the first divider. I used the grey polka dot paper from the Basics Kit (it was a good additional purchase - the dots are adorable and having neutral papers helps complement the papers). I reused an idea from my recent summer mini-album - I really loved the look of the pocket created with the Puffy Cloud Borders dies from Lawn Fawn, so I did the same thing here as well. This looks way better than the straight pocket did, and the stitching adds a nice finishing touch. The pocket seemed a little bare, so I went through my embellishments and picked a border from the sticker book and a couple of images from the foam stickers.
Then came time to prepare the tabs. I looked at my punch and dies options. I was liking the look and size of the tabs from Planner Essentials 4 from Elizabeth Craft Designs (told you I love those dies!). I was trying to figure out how to add the names I wanted to the tabs, though. Using Word and the free Waltograph font, I printed the names on Very Vanilla Cardstock and tested them on the tabs, but they were too wide to fit on the tab part. I could have used the tab die directly on my vanilla cardstock, but I thought colorful tabs would be prettier and I'll admit, I was way too lazy to print my doc six times on a scrap of each colour. So instead, I die cut my words using the smaller of the Sentiments dies from Waffle Flower. Those are full dies (they are not open in the center), so I had to create a negative template, center it around the word, fit the die in the hole like a jigsaw puzzle, tape everything in place and run it through the Sidekick. I then cut two tabs out of each Basics Kit colors, then I added them to my divider pages using sticky strip and I added the words to the bottom of the tab. We can't see the words when the notebook is closed, but I know the order I put them in, so it shouldn't be a problem.
The paper I used for the inside of the notebook is actually nice paper with a linen pattern to it. It was actually what my office used for letterhead paper and when our logo changed, they collected it to recycle it. I asked if we could upcycle it as printing paper instead and the next day, I was gifted with a nice pile of paper... cut to 9" x 8½" to take the logo off. So... not exactly printing paper, but as a crafter, it has still come in handy. There is just a lot of leftovers because of the wonky size, but hey, it was free and it is nice paper, so I'll take it. I cut the pages to 6" x 8" like the patterned paper, so I have a nice stack of 3½" x 8" paper that will probably become a notebook for my grocery lists. I made sure to round the two right corners of the pages as well. At the last minute, I also remembered that I had the stamp set from this collection and that adding a little stamped image in the corner of the first page of each section would be super cute, so I picked matching ink colors and did just that.
The red discs I used are from Waffle Flower and I like that you get 8 discs for $6 US. Discs are not easy to find and I had a little bit of sticker shock when the disc-bound trend started and I started to get interested in it. I have a binding machine that I purchased over 15 years ago and that I still love and use once in every blue moon, but the appeal of disc-bound is that you can take pages in and out and move things around without damaging anything. This is perfect here, as I doubt I will have the same amount of notes for every park and since it's hard to anticipate, I can add to sections that need it down the line (as far as the discs can allow).
Keeping with that same logic, the next project on the list would be a sample book. Where I can sample my products, pens, etc. and keep a bit of an inventory on items that I could benefit from. I don't plan on doing a comprehensive inventory, just for the elements that I keep searching for or where I want to have color samples on hand. This is a great example of something that grows over time and where you benefit from having a system you can add to. I would like to find larger discs for those sample books, though. Right now, I have two sets of larger discs that I got by purchasing planners from the Clearance section. I didn't really have any use for the planners themselves but they were clearanced at a lower price than a set of discs would have been. My niece actually expressed interest in keeping the pages for herself, so we punched holes in a corner and binded everything with ribbon and that made her day (and it cleared space in my workspace).
On a side note, the cover pages are not flimsy, but they are not sturdy either since I only used patterned paper. I could have added cardstock, but then I would have either ended up with plain cardstock on the backside of the cover or would have needed to add a second piece of patterned paper and sandwich the cardstock in between. That seemed wasteful to me, so I decided the single-page cover was good enough for me. I will say that when I create notebooks for the office, that I plan to carry around with me and maybe write in while standing up, using chipboard for the back cover becomes highly important, so it depends what you plan to use your notebooks for. Just something to keep in mind when planning your design and supplies.
Supplies
Stamps: Say Cheese Main Street (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Basics Kit, Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Foam Stickers: Say Cheese Main Street (Simple Stories)
Ink: Real Red, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Seaside Spray, Crushed Curry, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Sentiments Dies (Waffle Flower); Planner Essentials 4 (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Puffy Cloud Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Red Binding Discs (Waffle Flower);
Corner Chomper, Crop-a-Dile Disc Power Punch Tool (We R Memory Keepers)
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