The Repurposed Book Binder

The toughest part of this project is finding the perfect book. The spine of the book has to be a bit bigger than the height of the 2-ring metal binder piece, in this case it was one inch tall. Make sure it’s wide enough for a paper size you’re comfortable with too, remember to add about half the width of the binder clip.

Materials

• → An old book
• → Cheap 2-ring 3×5 notecard binder from office supply store
• → Spray adhesive
• ♥ DIY Planner Templates to fill the inside!

First you want to remove the pages from the inside of the book. It’s important to keep the very first and very last pages that are attached to the covers intact – these are called the endpapers. Go a few pages into the first signature and spread the pages apart until you can see the stitching. Using an exacto knife carefully cut the thread.

Once you’ve cut all the threads look behind the first page, you should be able to pull the pages away from the endpaper. It will probably be attached with adhesive but should pull apart easily, especially if it’s an older book. Once the endpaper is released cut through the book tape with scissors to completely release the inside pages.

Do the same to the back of the book so that you’re left with only the cover and the endpapers.

Next, fold both endpapers open and mark/cut them so that they’re the width of the spine.

Use the spray adhesive and attach the endpapers to the spine. I put down the back section first then the front, but do whatever works best for you book. The white sheets of paper are to protect the rest of the book from the adhesive.

Attach a piece of extra endpaper to the spine to hide the seams. Depending on the construction of your book this may not be necessary.

Last I attached the 2-ring metal binder piece. Instructions for doing this are in The Bee Planner post.

Now the fun part, filling the binder up! Thanks for reading, now go make something.

First up is a quick tutorial on the first binder I ever made, The Bee Planner!

The Bee Planner

A few years ago I made my first binder, a gift for my brother ‘n law. I completely hacked it together but here’s what I can remember.

Materials

• → Cheap 2-ring 3×5 notecard binder from office supply store
• → Vinyl, from the uphostery section at JoAnns
• → Bumble bee fabric**
• → Photocopies of CD Artwork**
• → Tissue Paper
• → Cardboard or bookboard
• → Short bolt with flat head, nut and 2 grommets. Might be a good idea to bring your metal binder clip with you to the hardware/craft store to make sure all the sizes match up.
• ♥ DIY Planner Templates to fill the inside!

** These can be whatever, always remember to make it your own!

First, rip out the 2-ring metal binder piece from your cheapo 3×5 notecard binder. Once it’s off the plastic use pliers to pull out the little brads that were holding it in place so you’re left with two holes on each side. If the metal bends while pulling out the brads just straighten it out with the pliers.

Music is ‘Folly’ by Sam Squarewave

Put the paper you’d like in the metal binder clip and measure from the very left point to the very right. Your bottom board will need to be this big or wider. If you plan on having page dividers with tabs include those in the width as well. Measure the height of the binder rings, your spine will need to be this wide + the thickness of the bottom board + a little extra to be safe.

The front and spine are made of paper (photocopies, collages, drawings) or fabric. The back should be bookboard or cardboard to give it a little weight. All three pieces are covered with clear vinyl on both sides.

Once everything is ready to sew pin it together and stitch around the edges. Also do a stitch up and down through the seems between the front, spine and back. Give yourself plenty of extra vinyl around the edges so sewing is simple… then trim the excess off after.

Vinyl sewing tips!

A sewing machine with a good strong needle will sew through a layer of paper/fabric and two pieces of vinyl easily. The problem is that the vinyl sticks to everything… the foot and the feed. This is where the tissue paper comes in. Put a sheet on the bottom and on the top before sewing:
tissue → vinyl → paper → vinyl → tissue
Once the sewing is done the tissue paper will rip off easily.

Attaching the binder rings

Once the front, spine and back are complete place the metal binder rings on the far left of the back board. Mark inside the holes on each side of the hardware. Use a sharp tool or hammer and nail to create a hole through the entire back piece the size of your grommet. It’s best to make it a little bit smaller and squeeze the grommet in, better than having a hole too big! Put it in so that the pretty side is on the outside of the binder.

Once the grommets are in place use the screws to secure the rings to the board with the flat head of the screw on the outside. Voila!

Like I mentioned in the beginning, I really hacked this binder together. Plus I’m writing this from memory so if something doesn’t work out quite right I warned you! There are a few pictures of this planner on flickr, view ‘all sizes’ to see bigger versions for more detail.

Thanks for reading, hope its helpful!

Make your own!

These ornaments are super simple to make, you just need a wooden block, an eye hook, gluestick and whatever else you want to glue or stamp on!

Decorate your block first, don’t put anything too special on the top because next you screw the eye hook into it! My first layer was lined writing paper or a dictionary page, then I glued on little pieces of bright tissue paper.

A note about tissue paper – it’s one of my favortie materials for collaging. It comes in a million colors and you don’t ever have to buy it cause you can just collect it from trashcans at birthday and holiday parties.

A secret technique of mine is to type on white tissue paper with the typewriter then glue it on top of a collage – it makes it look like you just typed right over the art. And because tissue paper is transparent (especially when loaded up with glue) it adds a ton of texture to a piece. Even if it’s super bright or patterned you can always faintly see whatever is underneath.

The last step is to screw the eye hook into the top of the wooden block. I used a hammer and nail to start the hole and it goes in easily from there. After doing several of them my fingers were very sore though so I started using needle nose pliers to twist them in. Tie some ribbon on to hang the ornament and you’re finished!

I made these ornaments a couple years ago for an ornament swap I was doing. Here’s a lovely photo of the ornament on a fellow swapper’s tree – by mommyishome on flickr

Supplies

Masonite (Hardboard), 1″ x 2″ Plywood, Wood Glue, Nails, Hammer, Saw, Safety Goggles & a pencil

Trip to hardware store!

Bought a piece of 4ft x 8ft masonite ($12) – and had them cut it into 8 2ft x 2ft pieces. Also bought goggles and a little jigsaw (only $45 total, worth it if you’ll be doing a lot of sawing – hand saws are cheaper but SO much more work and time)

For the 1″x 2″ plywood – you’ll need enough to go around the edges of your masonite (depending on the size) – 2 sides of mine were 24″ and the other 2 sides were 21″ (subtract the width of the wood from your long pieces)

I measured and cut 2 of each sides to make sure everything fit together – then used one of each for a template for cutting the rest of the plywood. Made the process go lots faster! *A NOTE ABOUT SAFETY* Be careful and wear safety goggles while sawing. Your eyes and your little fingers are muy importante, keep them safe! Always be aware of the blade, read the saw’s directions and take your time!

Assembly

Place the masonite on the ground and the longer plywood piece next to it.

Put a little glue all along it and pull the masonite up on top and line it up flush with the edge. Put a nail in the first corner, make sure it’s still lined up and then do the same on the other corner. Put one or two nails inbetween if you’d like.

Do the same to the opposite side of the board, with the longer piece. These full sides will be the edges of the artwork because they’ll look a little nicer than the top and bottom edges.

Put a little glue on the shorter boards and squeeze them in between the outer boards and nail them into place.

Painting Prep

This is the fun part. Your panels might not look great – the wood is all different colors, maybe the plywood wasn’t the most perfect length? Who cares, ’cause once you put a few layers of gesso on they’re perfect!

Make sure and get all of the edges and little nooks and crannies.

And that’s it! For a little over $100 (including the big tub of gesso and jigsaw) + one afternoon I made 16 panels. The frames makes them look a bit more professional and easier to hang. If you’ve never painted on masonite before and would just like to try it you can always buy a small piece from the hardware store just to test it out first. If it’s small enough it won’t need a frame, just some gesso and you’re ready to go.

Just did a quick search on painting on masonite and found this: Painting on Hardboard or Wood - lots of good info if you’re looking for more!

Personalize it!
All of the sizes can be changed depending on what size you want the bag to be – so nothing has to be exact! The great thing about this bag is that measuring just isn’t that important, don’t tell anyone but I’m a pretty sloppy sewer! I never match the thread to the fabric either and love going back and forth with the thread so that it looks like scribbles!

Directions
To start you’ll need 2 rectangles of fabric 34.5″x17.5″ – one piece will be the outside body and the other will be the inside. Fold one side of the fabric in 12″ – from the unfolded piece measure in 1″ and cut the fabric away on each side (pictured below). This will be the flap of the bag.

Pockets These can also be customized depending on what you need pockets for – get out your cell phone or mp3 player for measuring! You’ll need an inside and outside fabric for each pocket – not sure if you can tell in the photo below but there are 2 pieces in each pile/size.

Grab one pocket square and head to the sewing machine. Flip the fabric so that the side of the fabric you want on the outside are on the inside. I’m not the most exact cutter so I make sure to flip both sides of the fabric around so that if it’s not square both sides will be ‘not square’ together, like so:

Once the fabric is layed out sew around the edges leaving an opening in the middle of one edge. Pull the fabric right side out through the whole and use your finger to poke out the corners. Then sew all around the edge of the square, tucking the open area of fabric inside. Now you can do any decorative stitching you want, I usually just do an extra stripe along the top of the square:

Once all of your pocket pieces are sewn attach the top layers of pockets onto the back layers. Just sew around 3 sides leaving the top open, I love this part because it finally starts looking like something.

Pen slots are my favorite kind of pockets – just sew a straight line up the middle of your rectangle pocket dividing it into pen size sections!

Add an easy tag onto the side of a pocket with a thick ribbon. Later you can hook a carabiner (a what?) on it to hold your keys.

Once your pockets are together pin them on the inside body material where you want them. Make sure and put the openings toward the outside of the fabric. Once they’re pinned in place sew around the three edges leaving the top open. On my long pocket on the right I sewed up through the pocket to divide it into smaller sections. If a pocket is too wide it will bow out and get in the way of the main pocket when you open the bag.

Once that’s done place the inside of the bag on the outside material with both good sides facing in. Pinning this part is really important, it’s bulky with pockets at this point and pulls a lot. Sew around the edges leaving a hole large enough to pull the bag right side out through – just like you did with the pockets.

Once it’s right side out with the corners poked out sew around all of the edges and close up the hole.

This part is optional. I like flipping up the bottom edge of the flap so that you can see the inside material. Sew all around the edges as well as the bottom to flatten it. Mine’s white so I did some decorative stitching on it but if you have a fun pattern on the inside it’ll make a really fun accent with no extra work!

Now, fold the bag together with the inside on the outside and sew up each edge to close the bag!

Squaring off the bottom is a little tricky at first but once you do it the first time it’s a piece of cake. Put your hand inside the bag and flatten the bottom corner the opposite direction. Make sure the fabric on the inside and out is really flat. Then sew across the the corner making a triangle. The closer to the tip that you sew the narrower your bottom will be. Trim off the fabric and repeat on the other side. Here’s a tutorial that discusses it in more detailed if you’re interested!

Turn the bag inside out and you’re almost done! I sew along the outside edges to make my bag more square. Hold the bottom corner and fold the fabric in a line to the top like in the first photo, then sew along the line as close as you can get to the edge. It helps to keep one hand on the bottom corner to pull a little bit to keep the line straight while you’re sewing. There will be two lines on each side and two on the bottom. (If this is totally confusing let me know and I’ll try and illustrate it better!)

Strap Now cut out the strap fabric, mine is really long – 48″x4″ – it’s just the right length so that I can wear it across my chest and reach the bottom of the bag! Measure yours depending on how you like them – if you have a bag that’s the perfect length measure it and just give yourself an extra inch on each end for attaching the bag.

I also did mine in the same fabric as the inside of the bag because I like contrast between the outside and the strap. It’d also look great in the same material or a completely different one. Totally up to you.

Fold the strap in half long ways and sew all the way down the edge. Then flip it right side out.

Flatten the material so that the seam goes down the center and tuck the edges on the ends inside. Sew the strap all the way down the middle following the seam, then sew along it on each edge.

Sew the ends of the straps to the inside of the sides of the bag. Sew around in a square shape and then sew across the center in an X shape.

This project means sewing a lot of squares. I sew along one side and leave the needle down on the corner, lift the foot and rotate the fabric around – put the foot back down and do another edge! This might be obvious for some but it wasn’t for me at first!

Oh, that was the last step! Enjoy your new bag! xo

I love weddings. I got married last year and so did my sister, both weddings were amazing and most importantly – totally DIY. A few months ago one of my best friends announced that she was getting married the end of June outside of Chicago! I built them a wedsite and this weekend I finished their invitations, so fun!

The design, paper and everything came together so well I wanted to share – in case anyone else is looking for a simple, affordable solution for an invitation/rsvp!

I used blue 12×12 scrapbooking paper cut in half (12 x 6) – this image is of the front and back:

The bottom section is a detachable post card that people can personalize and mail back – made easily with a scoring attachment for my cutter bee (super cheap, especially if you have 40% off coupon). Then it just folds up, closes with a clear seal and it’s read to mail!

Download the template:

ILLUSTRATOR: DIY Wedding Invitations ()
PDF: DIY Wedding Invitation PDF (513.79 KB)

Here’s a short timelapse of the whole process!

Unfortunately, the clouds were too messy and didn’t make the cut… I still love the way they turned out and will definitely be using them on future projects! Oh, and thanks to my husband Sam for all the help – you’re amazing!