Pretty Hand Made Books From Ordinary Materials Around the House

These note books made from scraps have been shown elsewhere on this blog a few years ago, and  I wanted to show how to make them again. 

For each book, you will need:

Construction paper

Printer paper

wired ribbon, yarn or string

pictures cut from catalogs

glue stick for paper

1. Select a piece of construction paper (children's art paper) and fold it in fourths. These will be the covers of the books.

2. Open the paper, and cut the paper along the folds into four pieces.

3. Fold one of the pieces in half and punch a hole in it close to the fold, as you see.

4. Open it up and use the holes as your pattern for the filler paper and the back cover.

5. For each book, fold two pieces of white copy paper in fourths, open them up and cut them into four pieces each. There will be 8 small pages. Since the copy paper is smaller than the construction paper, center it on the  cover before you punch the holes.

6. With the cover facing up, and the paper beneath it, use the holes already punched as a guide and punch holes in the pages,

7.  Cut about 10 inches of wired ribbon for the tie.

8. If you are making many books, unroll the ribbon and fold it 8 times, cutting after each fold, to make 16 pieces. Do this by counting by 2's each time you fold.

9. Twist one end of the ribbon and put it through the hole, from the front.

10.  Twist the ribbon end again and bring it back up through the back to the front.

11. Tie the ribbon once. It is not necessary to tie a knot in wired ribbon. Roll the ends of the ribbon over twice to hide the wire, and then arrange it to look like a bow.

Use anything you have on hand for the inside pages. Scrapbook papers are usually white on one side and would make good pages, but you would have to trace around the book cover to get them the right size. You can also make your book covers from scrapbook papers, folding in the same manner as this book.

I clipped items from the Castle and Cottage catalog. You might use other types of clip art, from cards or things you get in the mail.  These booklets are being made for a lady who has an upcoming homemaking class and would like something to hand out for her guests to jot down notes if they need to. She did not want anything expensive.

                      I cut out pictures from the catalog that went along with her homemaking theme. Since each one is different, there is no need to write names on the books to distinguish one from another. Enjoy coordinating the clipped pictures with the color of the construction paper, and using ribbons that also contrast nicely with the paper and the pictures.

                  Below you see several books completed, and some tied with white wired ribbon.  If you are needing favors or gifts and have no time to shop, this is a quick way to make something.  A book like this is good for a shopping list or a schedule or a reminder list, and will fit easily in a pocket or purse.

If you need small copy books for boys, just use your model car catalog or any kind of interesting seed catalog or magazine for clip art on the cover, and tie it with rope or string. You can also easily tear the construction paper if the folds are creased well enough, which gives the edges of the covers a feathery look.