Fancy Notebooks

A few weeks ago I came across this idea from Grace Violet for jazzing up notebooks and was excited to share it with you for this week's Christmas Blessings. I had several small composition books that were nearly free at Walgreen's and started with those.

A utilitarian notebook becomes a fancy little journal by decoupaging scrapbook paper on the cover, then adding a decorative brad in front, and elastic secured by an eyelet in the back. It was fun to learn to put in the eyelets; I love learning new crafts! I had trouble finding very narrow elastic, so I used ribbon (a little trickier to close the journal, but it works). The notebooks really came together quickly and turned out so cute! I'm planning to make our new guest book the same way.

A little decorated journal would make a nice stocking stuffer. This is also great gift to bring out when you need a a little birthday surprise for a girlfriend, a housewarming present, or a gift for hard-to-buy-for teenagers (add some glam!).

You might like to personalize the cover by writing the recipient's name in stickers or adding a special photo. And no one said you have to leave the inside blank: check out Lindsey's 60 Reasons We Love Kathy book here.

It's so much fun to make gifts for people you love!