Mini Journals and notebooks make great handmade gift ideas for friends and family, however, not everyone has the time or inclination to learn the art of book binding. Using your Big Shot and Crop-a-dile, you can make handmade notebooks easily out of more materials than ever before! (as mentioned in my original Crop-a-dile post).
Need a handmade gift idea for a man in your life?
Your husband? Son? Nephew? Graduating Friend?
How about a handmade noebook with a leather cover?
I think this combination creates a masculine notebook my husband will be proud to have on his antique leather topped English writing desk!
While I could have dressed this notebook up to personalize it, I won't. My hubby is not an embellishment type ... but I have a couple months until his birthday to decide. Maybe I'll stamp the cover with the deer from Nature Silhouettes in Jet Black StazOn Ink - this is the stamp set I will be purchasing from the current retiring stamp list.
Some key details:
- I cut the cover and pages with the Big Shot and the Top Note Bigz die.
Don't you love the faux stitching that this die creates?
The covers are cut from suede mat board, but you could use other suede or leather from the craft store - layer on chipboard if necessary to provide stiffness. I've backed the covers with die cut Early Espresso card stock. The interior pages are just die cut printer paper. - I've assembled with the Crop-a-dile and large eyelets (from my stash) and binder rings.
Using the binder rings allows the notebook to be easily refilled!
I would have loved to use the now retired Jumbo Eyelets from Stampin' Up!, but my stash is completely depleted. They were a much better quality than these, and stretched the entire depth of the mat board ... these have a much shorter length and barely do the job.
NOTE: the retiring accessories list will be released April 25th!
If you already find yourself searching for now retired accessories (like the jumbo eyelets), you know you'll need to stock up on your most used retiring products while they are still available this time around!
In the meantime, break out your Big Shot and Crop-a-dile and start crafting customized notebooks for your friends and family!
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