On the newest episode of Its Easy Being Green I showed how to make a notebook out of a juice pouch cardboard box. Any kind of corrugated cardboard can be used in the same way. The pictures below were taken last June. There are some small differences in how those notebooks were made vs the one one above. I'll bring up the differences when they arise.
Step 1: Open your cardboard box and lay it flat on a cutting mat.
Step 2: Using a cutting knife and a ruler, cut along the creases of the cardboard. You want to cut out the front and back panel of the juice pouch box.
Step 3: You want to cut these two panels a 2nd time to make sure that they have straight edges and that they are the same size.
Step 4: Measure one inch in from the side of both panels, then slice through one layer of the cardboard. Do not cut through both layers.
Step 5: Bend the cardboard along that cut line. This allows your notebook to open and close. The side with the cut is the inside of your notebook.
Step 6: Cut your paper a fourth of an inch smaller than your cardboard panels. I like to use 100% post consumer recycled paper, which your purchase at an office supply store.
Step 7: Pick out the paper that you want to use for the inside and the outside of your notebook. I like using scrapbook paper, but you can use recycled paper from magazines or old books. First cut your outside paper so that it is larger than your cardboard panel. Then cut your inside paper the same size as your pages (a fourth of an inch smaller than your cardboard panel).
Step 8: Apply glue to the front of your panel. The picture here shows the inside, so please ignore it. For the show I used a glue stick, which works great.
Step 9: Lay your paper down and smooth it out with a credit card or a bone folder.
Step 10: Bend that fold to make sure that your notebook with open and close easily once the glue dries.
Step 11: This is where the pictures and the t.v. show differ. In this one I have the inside paper glued down with the outside paper ready to over lap it. For the show I laid the inside paper over the over lapped outside paper. Which ever you choose to do, you need to cut off the corners of the outside paper. Then you need to glue it to the inside of the panel. See the picture below.
Step 12: For the show I then glued the inside paper in place. In the picture it was glued down before the outside paper. Just make sure to bend your panel along the fold line, because the inside paper will shift to allow the bend.
Step 13: Sandwich your pages and front and back panels together, and then clamp them together. These clips / clamps can be found at the office supply store. Next figure out how many holes that you want in your binding and measure them out. I like to take a scrap piece of paper that is 1 inch wide by however wide your notebook is. The 1" represents the space before the notebook bends. Then fold it in half 2 or 3 times along the length, then once along the width. The width line marks half an inch. The other folds marks the evenly spaced holes for the binding. Hole punch along the fold lines, lay it over the notebook, and mark with a dot. Then drill a hole through those marks, and through the layers of your notebook.
Step 14: Using a tapestry needle and ribbon or yarn, bind your notebook. For this notebook I drilled 5 holes. I stared at the top hole and went from the back of the book to the front in a spiral down the side. Then I went through the bottom hole a 2nd time. Then I went back up the the side and through the top hole a 2nd time. Then I tied a knot and clipped the yarn short. You can tie a bow or add beads and charms to it.
For the notebook at the top of this post, I drilled 3 holes. I went through the front of the center hole with a ribbon. Then through the back of the 1st hole, then the front of the center hole again, then the back of the 3rd hole. Then I tied a knot with the two ends of the ribbon over the center hole. Then I tied a nice bow.
These 2 notebooks were for my kids to use during our Disney World trip last year. They were perfect for coloring in, collecting autographs, souvenirs, adding pictures, and stickers. The only thing that I would do differently would be to add contact paper over the finished cardboard panels before drilling the holes. It rains a lot in Florida, and that did a little bit of damage to them (even when they were in our backpack).
I also added some scrapbook pages in random places inside of the book for fun.
These notebooks are perfect for kids and adults alike. You can also keep them unfinished for a fun Kool Aid or Capri Sun notebook.
I also showed how to make a matchbook notebook on the show. I will post that how to soon. You can view this show on my you tube channel (the link is on the upper right hand side of my blog) in 2 weeks.
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