I Decided To Finally Commit To Using A Notebook (Handmade Edition)

Hello, how are you? You know you're doing it right when your workspace is full of different kinds of things, and I've been stressing about everything last night. I decided to make a list of what I am supposed to do so that all the things bothering me will be lessened.

I used to love to write my to-do list, but what bothers me is that one of my family members saw what I wrote, which gives me a kind of anxiety, and I used to have a journal too but never did it since then hahaha.

I promised myself I would commit to keeping a notebook for all my to-do lists, etc. To be honest, I am more productive when I have a list that I wrote myself because taking notes on my phone is not for me LOL.

So my to-do today is to make a notebook for my calculations of time, which will take me a couple of hours, but I will finish it tonight. To keep myself awake, I drank coffee to keep me awake all night.

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Materials I Used:

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Craft Time!

I used short 90 gsm cream paper for the small notebook I am going to make, and I am going to cut them all in half, 5 sheets at a time. Usually the notebook I bought in store came with 50 sheets of pages, so I decided why not double it hehe.

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As I said earlier, I cut them with a cutter and a metal ruler in half, 5 sheets at a time, and I like to stack them opposite each other to easily access later.

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Fold them in half.

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Stack all 5 signatures all together and sandwich them between two sheets of chipboard and two clamps to flatten them.

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Proceed to the next while it is still in flatten process. I prepare the thread and needle that I am going to use to sew the signatures. I like to measure the thread double the length of each signature, and I added about two more for extra thread. I run those threads through beeswax to prevent the thread from getting tangled in the process of sewing, and then I made a measurement of the whole I am going to punch later.

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Using the awl and the measurement I made, I punched a hole in each signature one by one.

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Sew each signature to the other.

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This is what it looks like. The method of sewing I made is a kettle stitch. You can use a different one, but it is up to your liking. Now I have a text block.

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I sandwich the text block between the chipboard and secure it using clamps.

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Then I glue the spine. Let it dry.

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Now that the textblock's glued spine is dry, I am going to glue the endpapers from the front and back. This will serve to connect the text block and the cover later. I used thicker paper for the endpapers.

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I apply glue just to the corner of the spine, maybe 1/4 inch of it, and then I press the endpaper and then run a bone folder to glue the paper securely.

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I glue the ribbon on the top part of the spine.

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Next are the headbands. I made it out of faux leather so it will look uniform.

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For the cover, I cut a chipboard with the exact length, but I subtract about 5 cm or more from the width of the chipboard. Make sure to do the testing first by taping the measurement and trying it on the text block. And I cut a thicker paper at the width and length of the text block to serve as a spine cover.

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When everything fits, I am going to glue the chipboard onto the faux leather and make sure to apply the glue evenly to prevent bubbles from appearing in the cover.

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To remove the bubble or to make sure everything is glued together, I ran a bone folder around it.

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For the sides of the cover, I cut an inch extra space for the cover and then glue the top and bottom parts first.

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Before I proceed with gluing the side part, I am going to cut excess leather on the side of the top and bottom to make it look flatter when I glue it together.

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For the garter, I make the part where I am going to put the headband and cut deep enough for the garter to fit in, and then from the bottom part I completely slit it to where I am going to slide in the garter.

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Then I slip the garter into the slit I made earlier and glue it.

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Time to connect the cover to the textblock. Remember the endpaper I glued earlier? I glue it evenly to the front part of it.

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And then stick it on the cover by closing it and do the same thing on the back endpaper. Let it dry.

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I fail at making the back pouch. There is no coming back, so I commit to it even though I don't like it LOL.

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LOL.

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Now the notebook is done!

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Here's what it looks like inside. I was supposed to add a pocket or a thing to place the pen, but I only remembered it after finishing it.

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Writing gibbering note LOL.

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Can't wait to use it more, and I hope this will help with my productivity in the future.

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Thank you for visiting, see you on my next blog. :D
Please take care of your mental health as well.
I hope you are okay today :))

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