Made by hand with stamps, a pencil and typewriter - DIY Planner Templates to download and print.
The Repurposed Book Binder
Mon Feb 15th, 10
This is part two of the ‘Binder Series‘ – View part one here: The Bee Planner
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.
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11 Comments
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This is a great idea, love the look of it. Thanks for sharing the process.
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Amanda Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 11:50 am
You’re welcome, thanks for commenting! :)
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That’s gorgeous! I love this idea. Thanks so much for the how-to, I’ll be linking.
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Amanda Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Thank you SO much Rachel! :)
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Wow, that’s stunning.
I love what you did. It’s great to see old items being brought back to life with projects like these.
Can I ask? What did you end up doing with the paper?
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Amanda Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Hey Murray, thanks so much! Thanks for linking on your twitter too! :)
Most of the pages are still sitting on my desk. I used a few sheets to make a V-day card/booklet for my husband. I’ll probably use the rest for collages, notebook inserts and pockets… random stuff I suppose! Hadn’t given it a lot of thought yet.
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Murlu Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
That’s fantastic!
I’m no hippie but it’s great to see that the book is going into a good use all around.
Looking forward to see what else you make :)
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I’m so glad you chose to use this book! It turned out great.
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Amanda Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I was a bit nervous starting, the book was so cool! Thanks for the push to do it!
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Amanda, this is so great, and your Bee Notebook, too.. i have both saved to make soon, thanks so much for posting!
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Amanda Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Wonderful, make sure and share if you make one!
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Found you via SisterDiane’s tweet – this is so great!! Thanks for the idea!
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Amanda Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
You’re welcome, thanks for the comment!
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So fantastic! I LOVE LOVE LOVE old books. How beautiful to use them for organizing!?
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Amanda Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I KNOW! I’m obsessed, is it awful that I go to used book stores and imagine disassembling every book I see? Thanks so much, make sure and share if you make one!!
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Fabulous tutorial, I love altered books myself but your instructions made it sound so easy. Thanks for sharing the inspiration.
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What a fantastic idea. I’ve seen a lot of ideas for reworking the pages into other projects but never one for the covers.
No actually, I tell a lie. I’ve seen one idea, where they made the front covers into postcards but that was paperbacks and I much prefer this idea.
Though I still repair my old books whenever possible. It’s more difficult with hardbacks but my sister has a thermal binding machine so she can usually rescue my poor beaten up paperbacks. :)
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luv luv luv yooooooooour work
the downloads are not working at 2am
help
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Hi! I stumbled on site looking for binding materials and your site is really encouraging! Well done you!
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