Notepad/Notebook Cover Tutorial

Back in 2010 I came across a great scrapbook website, PapertreyInk.com. While poking around I found these little notepads:

Photo from papertreyink.com | click HERE to view these notepads on their site

These cute notepads are available in white and vintage cream. Now, at the time I hadn't embraced my vintage side, so I ordered a set of the white ones; the vintage ones look lovely and I can't wait to order some. Each set has 10 2.5x8" notepads containing 25 sheets each; I found these nicely priced at $6.

I began working on making covers for these cuties. Here are the four I made with my newfound love, Graphic 45 paper:

I made these for a swap but loved them too much...I decided to list them on Etsy and all but one sold. I came across the last notepad when I moved in October but I sadly have no idea where it is. Ah well, I can and have made more! ;) I ended up creating these notepads for the swap:

The other day I decided to make some more covers so I can list them on my new Etsy site (I moved all my scrappy goodies from Naive Glow Arts to my new shop Live. Laugh. Scrap.). I cannot tell you how fun these are! They don't take long, don't use up a bunch of your stash, and you can get so creative even on a small amount of space. And it's not often we alter/create things in this aspect ratio (12x12 layouts, anyone?), so it stretches your imagination even further. How fun! Here are the two I have made since my return to scrapbooking:

Click here to see this item's listing on Etsy.
Click here to see this item's listing on Zibbet.

Click here to see this item's listing on Etsy.
Click here to see this item's listing on Zibbet.

I realized that I have plenty of notepads of a different size. I stocked up on 3-packs of 5x8" yellow notepads at the Dollar Tree when I anticipated using them in altered file folders for a craft fair. Of course I never did the craft fair so I have at least a dozen altered file folder organizers and a few packs of notepads left over. I figured I would try a cover for one of the 5x8 notepads, and it turned out lovely! I actually stacked two notepads to make it thicker, and that's a great idea for the 25-page mini notepads from Papertrey Ink.

My 5x8" notepad with cover.
Click here to see this notepad's listing on Etsy.
Click here to see this notepad's listing on Zibbet.

I wanted to share how I made the covers and how I decorated them with my YouTube subscribers, so I filmed a simple tutorial giving measurements for the 2.5x8 and 5x8 notepads. Since I tend to get flustered when talking during my videos I wanted to make sure anyone interested in making a cover had easy-to-understand instructions. These are very simple instructions and it didn't take a lot of thought to figure out how to cut and score at what lengths. However sometimes it's nice to have measurements for a project already figured out for you :) Here is the video, and below are the instructions I promised in the video.

For the 2.5x8" notepads:

• Cut a piece of cardstock or lightweight chipboard to 11x2 5/8"
• Make your first score line at 8 1/8"
• Make a second score line at 8 1/4"
• Bend at the score lines
• Make sure to leave at least 1-1.5" of chipboard or cardstock above your last score line to adhere to the back of the notepad*

For the 5x8" notepads (2 40-sheet notepads stacked):

• Cut a piece of cardstock or lightweight chipboard to 11x5 1/8"
• Make your first score line at 8 1/8"
• Make a second score line at 8 3/4"
• Bend at the score lines
• Make sure to leave at least 1-1.5" of chipboard or cardstock above your last score line to adhere to the back of the notepad*

Customizing the size is very easy, all you need to remember is the following:

• To figure out the width of your cover, add 1/8" to the width of your notepad
• Leave the length of the cover at 11 or 12 inches to begin with (depending on the size of your cardstock or chipboard)
• To figure out the first score line's placement, add 1/8" to the length of your notepad and score at that length
• Determine the depth of your notepad. That is the distance you need to leave between your first score line and your second.
• After making your second and final score line, you can trim the length of the cardstock/chipboard to your desired length. Just be sure to leave at least 1-1.5" above the last score line so you can have plenty of cardstock/chipboard to adhere to the back of the notepad*
• If you are a visual person, these pointers are really easy to understand if you look at one of the PDF templates below.

*Here is what happens if you don't leave much room for the cover to attach to the back of the notepad. Aside from the excess hot glue showing, the problem here is that the cover has the great potential to peel off. There's just not enough chipboard for the cover to adhere strongly.

The Problem (aside from messy hot glue!): This is not enough
chipboard on the back to hold for long after the cover is repeatedly
lifted and closed.

I hope my instructions are clear and made sense. In case you'd like a pre-made template for the notepads I made covers for, you can download a PDF file for each size below.

Links will to take you to RapidShare where you can safely download the files for free.

• 2.5x8 notepad template
• 5x8 notepad template

Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment and I will be sure to check out your blog, too!