Hi, everyone! Michelle here, back with another project using the “Tiki, I Love You” kit from The Fairytale Club! This time I decided to use these fun supplies to make my own pocket sized traveler’s notebook. I had some spare pleather lying around (who doesn’t, am I right?), and I’ve always wanted to try carrying around a notebook of this size, and I thought this would be the perfect way for me to try it out.
Here are the supplies I used to put this together:
Pink fake Leather for the inner lining
Tacky glue
A 12x12 sheet from the “Tiki, I love you” kit
Clear holographic sticker paper
Fabric stabilizer
Elastic
A box cutter (An Exacto knife may work, I just think that the box cutter is more heavy duty, and was able to cut through the leather better.)
An awl
Like I said before, I knew that I wanted a fairly small notebook, so I didn’t want to make this too large. I cut the leather and paper down to 5.25” tall, and 9” wide. That way, once you add paper and inserts and folded it in half, it was only about 4” wide. From there, I adhered the stabilizer to the back of the pleather.
I probably could have glued the paper to the back of the pleather directly, but I’ve found that when I use tacky glue, it can really warp the paper. So by using the fabric stabilizer, which is sticky on one side, it can hold the fabric and the paper together well. Once the paper and fabric were attached, and the glue was dry, I decided to add a layer of clear holographic sticker paper on top of the mermaid print. This adds a cute bit of sparkle to the cover, and it also made it less susceptible to water damage, since the sticker paper is a glossy kind.
From there, I used the awl tool to put holes in the cover where I wanted the elastic to go for the binding, and for the closure. To determine this, I found the halfway point in the width, and put holes 0.25” to the left and right of that point, at the top and bottom of the notebook. This gives me two elastics to use to hold a notebook.
I finished this project by adding a front pocket, making a small notebook, and then adding a little folder to the back, making it easy to take sticky notes, die cuts, and washi tape on the go!
I’m excited to take this cute little notebook with me on my everyday adventures! There’s often a time when I need a notepad to write down a quick note, make a list of something, or maybe even to do some memory keeping. And I don’t always carry my planner with me, since it’s quite chunky. So I think this is going to be an awesome little book! Happy Planning,
-Michelle