If you want to make a fast and easy binder this is it. You probably have all the parts to put it together just sitting around your house right now!
Supplies
- Gluestick and hot glue gun
- Flat Cardboard (not corrugated). Could be a cereal box, packaging or shoe box… get creative!
- Cheap 2-ring 3×5 notecard binder, or any old small planner or binder
- Pieces, parts, stickers, envelopes and scraps for collaging
- File folders or thicker paper for dividers, heavy scrapbooking paper works great
- ♥ DIY Planner Templates to fill the inside!
First, pull out the 2-ring binder clip from your 3×5 notebook. Directions for this and attaching the clip here. Decide what size paper you’d like, poke holes in it and hook it on the binder ring. Measure all the way around this – remember to measure for any tabs you’d like to include plus a little extra on the edges. This will be the width and height of Part A and Part C in the diagram above. The width of Part B should be as high as your binder clip plus a little extra. Part D can be whatever width you’d like really. It can be shorter and fold inside or outside, it can be wide as Part A and Part C or even a funky shape.
Once you figure out your sizes add the widths together and cut out one strip of cardboard. The cardboard I used was thinner than I would like so I cut out two pieces the same size and glued them together. Now make your folds, decorate and add the binder clip!
The pocket on Part A is optional. I cut out a piece of the same cardboard and attached it with hot glue on 3 sides. The closure is a piece of off-white elastic from Joann’s. Stretch it around the closed notebook to get the right length. Then cut two slits in the spine to feed it through. On the outside sew the ends together and you’re done.
Happy binding!
I’m big on DIY’ers and would love to see you making your own binders… but I decided to make a few to sell and see what happens! Here’s the first in progress – stay tuned for store updates and new DIY Planner templates.
This is part three of the ‘Binder Series‘ –
Previous posts: The Bee Planner and The Repurposed Book Binder
Here are a few people and notebooks I’ve been inspired by in my Binder research!
Bastiano
One of my favorite book makers is Bastiano – if you want to see amazing stitch, collage and book art go here.
NYX Creations
NYX has put together a REALLY cool binder tutorial using binder rings, cardboard and collage.
Remains of the Day
I recently signed up for Remains of the Day by Mary Ann Moss, a ‘Shabby Journal of Scraps’ online tutorial site.
Mary Ann’s video tutorials focus a lot on laying out different fabrics, book binding and creating paper pockets and all sorts of wonderful pages and collage techniques to fill books with. Check out all her lovely journal pages on flickr here.
I made this roll-up pencil pouch a while ago and had really been wanting to use the sewing/collage technique again. Super inspired I set out to make a Binder to match using the slip-cover method explained in Remains of the Day for the notebook cover.
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.
Hello, I'm Amanda Hawkins. Ahhh-Design is where I post art, projects, diy planner templates, tutorials and more.
