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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Fabric Covered Notebooks

Summer is flying by! Have you noticed that back to school items are lining every aisle in the stores? I try hard not to notice because I need no reminder that I have to rejoin the working world come September, however, I have always loved those black composition notebooks. Black and white is great, but why not rejuvenate the mundane piece of school supply with a little splash of color? Read on my dear pupils.

It's as easy as A, B, C... 1, 2, 3... ok, you get the picture.

Here is what you will need: A composition notebook, a fat quarter or fabric scrap, and some Heat n Bond iron-on adhesive. You will also want an iron, fray check, and a rotary cutter or scissors. Oh, and you might want a band-aid (more on that later)...

Be sure to choose a fabric that is dark enough to cover the black on the notebook. Otherwise you can use white duct tape to cover it.

Cut your fabric so that it is a little bit bigger than the notebook. Your cutting does not need to be perfect.

Cut the Heat n Bond slightly smaller than the fabric. (The white in the picture is the Heat n Bond). It should be a bit bigger than the notebook, but smaller than the fabric.

Set the notebook aside and iron the Heat n Bond to the fabric. I used the "wool" setting on my iron. I moved it slowly over the paper.

Let the Heat n Bond cool for a minute and then peel it back. If it doesn't come up easily, iron over it some more, let it cool, and try again.

Place your book onto the Heat n Bonded fabric and close it. Iron over the cover to seal the Heat n Bond to the notebook. Then iron over the back and the spine. Notice how the fabric does not cleanly match up with the notebook, this is ok, you will cut it off later.

After you have formed a seal, open the book and cut around the edges of the fabric with a rotary cutter or scissors. Be careful not to cut the tip of your thumb with your rotary cutter, it will bleed. A lot. You will need a band-aid.

After you trim your edges, iron over the whole notebook carefully and slowly. If the edges look like they will fray, use fray check on them.







Pop one of these cuties into your child's backpack and back to school will go from cruel to rule!!

I will be linking up to these great parties.

44 comments:

  1. Great idea! Those notebooks look fantastic!

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  2. So clever! They're so well done!

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  3. Courtney, I hear ya-I am not looking forward to going back to work in September! These notebook covers are cute though. I may have to make a couple of these for myself.

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  4. So fun looking!
    There would be no mistaking these notebooks from the stack of ordinary ones!
    Have a great week ~ Maria

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  5. Those are awesome! And it looks pretty easy...like something even I can handle! LOL

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  6. Adorable! I'm gonna have to get some of those notebooks. They were at Costco last time I was there. $5.xx for six of them! Thanks for the idea!!

    Liz

    The Nifty Nest

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  7. Very cute! Like the way you used heat and bond rather than glue.
    Tracey

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  8. So cute, I love this! Just found you on Keeping it Simple. New follower and fellow redhead. :)

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  9. Thanks for linking up to the Mad Skills party!

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  10. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the new Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. :) My hope is to share many of the fabulous projects I see everyday with the vast CG audience. I hope you will not only stop by and subscribe to CG, but will tell your friends about the new category! Hope you see some traffic from it!

    Your feature will appear in the main Craft Gossip RSS feed, on the main home page and can be found directly here
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/fabric-covered-notebooks/

    If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

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  11. Those are neat!

    I am your newest follower from the blog hop

    Hope you can come visit my blog
    http://shining2save.com

    Have a great day!

    Kari

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  12. I think this is an adorable idea! Great back to school gifts for teachers as well.

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  13. So cute! Thanks for sharing! Come plant your creative seeds at my blog party on Fridays: Plant a Punkin Seed at Punkin Seed Productions.

    Kristi
    Punkin Seed Productions

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  14. Very fun. These would make great back to school gifts. I'm hosting We're Organized Wednesday and would love for you to join the party. There's a great giveaway too. Hope to see you there.

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  15. wow... those are done so perfectly. Looks like you bought them that way. Great fabric choices!

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  16. Ok, that is awesome! Nice to have you join us for Anything Related! ~Bridgette

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  17. Wonderful idea! What a great teacher gift to start the year off. I'm visiting from new friend friday, glad to have found you!

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  18. I love them! So simple, but such an impact!
    Visiting from New Friend Fridays.

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  19. well done!
    i love heat-n-bond ... so many ways to use it!

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  20. Cute! Thanks for the tutorial. I love to have little books for every month so this would be cute with fall fabric and winter fabric and etc. etc. Thanks again!

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  21. That is genius. I never thought to use heat and bond to make it stick. Love it! Definitely doing that this year.:)

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  22. Courtney! I love these!

    I featured them in my Friday Favorites this week! http://www.laniejandco.com/2010/08/friday-favorites-8610.html

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  23. Brilliant! Now the notebooks don't look like
    they're missing their matching saddle shoes!

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  24. Fun idea and your notebook won't look like any other one! Very cool!

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  25. Love it! I need to make 50 covered notebooks for our womens retreat this fall! Visiting and following from The Girl Creative. I'm a redhead too :)

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  26. Oh my goodness! What a great idea. I am a teacher and am a total sucker for cute school supplies. Even better, I am a science teacher, so I have lab notebooks up the wazoo! :)

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  27. absolutely great. buying these adds up quite a bit! this is beautiful and cost-effective.

    sooo, do come link it up with us so our readers can find you and love you also: http://www.finecraftguild.com/diy-tutorial-linky-party-9/

    ps new party every wednesday, open all week, findable from Fine Craft Guild homepage.

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  28. A great way to tramsform some plain books. they all look so pretty together.

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  29. What a fun idea! I bet my nieces would love some of these to take to school.

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  30. Forget my kids' notebooks...I want these for my sewing notebooks! Stopping by from Sew&Tell. Thanks for sharing. Happy Sewing! :o)

    www.seamsinspired.com

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  31. Hi Courtney! What a fantastic idea. Makes me what to cover some books for myself - love the fabrics! I am featuring this today {stop by and grab a featured button if you like} Thanks so much for joining the Sunday Showcase - I greatly appreciate it! Hope you have a wonderful week. ~ Stephanie Lynn

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  32. So cute! I've always used paper and never thought to use fabric. The fabric looks much easier!

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  33. Hi Courtney! I found you over at Stephanie Lynns' blog. I had to come and check these out as my daughter's will be keeping a journal in their English class at our co-op. They always like to decorate them and this is sooo classy!
    Thank you for sharing!
    Sharon

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  34. I did a similar project, but I used Modge Podge and folding the edges to the inside. I used a coordinating paper on the inside. They are a great project and yours turned out very cute.

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  35. Hi again Courtney! I shared your idea on my blog in my Friday Newsflash post! Thanks again for sharing such a creative idea!
    Sharon

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  36. Oh my goodness I absolutely LOVE these and plan to make a ton for both my kids and myself!

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  37. featured these on my blog

    kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

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  38. Hi! I'm a new follower on Fun Follow Friday.
    I love this covered notebook!
    Jan http://www.jewelry4change.blogspot.com

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  39. Love it! Not an application that I have seen before!! Good Job!

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