#craftng

Free crochet blanket pattern! 😁🎉😍

absolutely loving this little girl’s energy

A Day in the Life Journaling & Crafting | SILENT VLOG

Hi friends, today I’m doing lots of creating. Nothing calms my mind like a good crafting session. Today I’m trying out air dry clay, coffee and wine staining paper, trying out a painting technique with nail polish, making some stamps for journaling and putting a journal together. I hope you enjoy the video!

Thanks for…

Everyone needs a notebook – from those who love making lists, to those who need to jot down ideas as soon as they arrive, to those who enjoy sketching and doodling as they go about their day, notebooks are a handy and ultimately relatively inexpensive way of keeping all your thoughts together. Plus, thanks to their literal pocket size, they can slip nicely into a bag or jacket, ready to make themselves useful out in the world.

At Paper Cutz, we love a notebook. Whether it’s the page that is pristine and clean, or the page that crinkles and crumples as your pen presses down on it, we love it. And do you know what the best thing is about notebooks? You can make your own. It’s simple and stylish, and you’ll end up with something totally unique.

The easiest way to make yourself a fantastic personalised notebook is to buy a standard one and bling it up. That’s where Paper Cutz can help. Browse our great range of paper products, and you’re sure to be able to find the colour, the feel, the look that you are going for. Completely wrap the original cover in a sturdy paper or card, and then go to town with cutting and sticking shapes, patterns, or words on top of that. Use layers to give the notebook texture, and use fabric to give it an interesting feel. A length of fabric can also be used to bind the pages together, so that the book stays closed when it needs to. Perfect for keeping secrets safe (and for keeping the pages unsoiled)!

Or you could go one step (actually a number of steps, but that’s okay) further, and make your own notebook from scratch. It sounds like a difficult task, but really, with a little concentration and some imagination you can create something beautiful. You’ll also need the right tools: good quality paper for the interior of the notebook, a ruler, a pencil, a craft knife, cover decorations, string (or ribbon or thread), and a needle. Paper Cutz can definitely help you with some of these items!

Next, choose the size of the pages in your notebooks. If you want it big, leave your chosen paper as it is. If you want it smaller, cut it in half, or quarters, or to whatever size you want. As long as all the pages are exactly the same, you’ll be able to bind them together beautifully when it comes to it.

Now cut out your cover paper or card to double the size of your pages. Fold it in half, and you’ve got your front and back covers. You can decorate this later, or leave it as it is if you’ve chosen a pretty pattern already. Place the interior pages between the covers and use your needle to poke three holes in the spine of your notebook. Make then evenly spaced. Take that same needle and thread it with the binding material. It entirely depends on your taste as to what you use (string, ribbon, thread etc), as it will all do the same job.

The binding is probably the trickiest part of the whole operation. Start on the outside and thread through the middle hole. Don’t knot it, but leave around a quarter of the thread hanging.

Now go for the top hole. Pull the thread through until you meet resistance, and keep that extra quarter loose. Now go back through the middle hole before finally threading through the bottom hole.

You will have two lengths of string or thread left, so tie them together in an attractive bow, and cut off anything you don’t require.

All done! The only thing left to do is decorate the cover (as above) should you wish to. And now you have a stylish, totally unique, and utterly personal notebook. Keep it for yourself or give it away as a gift. Or, if you’re feeling particularly business like, why not sell your creations? Who knows where the world will take you then?

Summer Cocktail Umbrella Wreath

  I know, I know–summer is practically over.  In fact, it IS over for me, at least where my job is concerned.  We’ve been back to school for just over a week now, and things seem to be going pretty swimmingly (except for the fact that I now have to wake up at 5am when my poor body was used to going to bed at 3am!). The only problem is, I’ve been so exhausted from readjusting to teaching again,…