A Thursday Throwback and Tutorial with Yumi and Fumi

Happy Thursday Everybody! It's Sheena of Team Fumi here today sharing a little project featuring our namesake Yumi & Fumi stamps from the first release.

Now, most of the time, I make cards. But every now and then I branch out and do a little altering. One of my favourite (and practical) objects to alter are notebooks. Despite being a techie, I DO like having written reminders of my to-do lists or, when travelling, a little journal to record those memorable moments.

Since I AM heading out on a little trip next week, I was inspired to create and share with you these altered miniature composition notebooks. They are perfect for writing down your packing list, important contact numbers and for quickly journalling all the fun anecdotes to go with your vacation photos for scrap-booking once you return home.

Supply List:

• miniature composition notebook (from your local dollar store or office supply store). These measure approximately 3.25 x 4.5 inches
• coordinating patterned papers, cut to fit the covers of the notebooks. You will need four pieces per notebook. Note that the pieces you will use for the inside covers should be cut just a fraction narrower than the cover (or you can trim after adhering with a craft knife). 
• extra paper from which to punch page tabs
• coordinating ribbon: two pieces. One for the cover (measure 1.25 inches longer than the cover to give room to adhere) and one for a placeholder (measure 2.5 inches longer than the cover to adhere and protrude from the notebook)
• double-sided tape, small glue dots
• coloured, stamped image of your choice
• any other embellishments you might wish to add
• corner rounder punch (or craft knife) if your notebook has rounded edges
• tab punch (or any other die cut/punch to make the tabs to divide your  notebook into sections)
• stamp and/or die cut to create a bookplate for the inner cover

Step 1: Gather your notebooks and rubber stamps.

Step 2: Cut your patterned papers down to size, rounding the edges if necessary. If the pattern on your paper clearly has a directional orientation (like my text paper), be sure you round the edges correctly!

Step 3: Be generous with the two-sided tape on the back of your papers to keep the edges from curling up.

Step 4: Line up the edges of the papers with the edges of your notebook and apply, pressing firmly to adhere.

Step 5: Cover the edges of the paper nearest the spine binding with the smaller pieces of ribbon. I like using just a couple of tiny glue dots to adhere the ribbon.

Step 6: Cut your coordinating papers for the inside covers. Again, remember to round the correct edges of the papers if they are directional. For these, I did not have to worry so much about that.

Step 7: I like the added touch of a little book-plate on the inside cover so you can write your name and contact info in case you lose your notebook OR so you can write the location and date of your trip!

Step 8: Before you adhere the papers to the inner cover, you will want to affix the ends of the ribbons from the cover AND one end of your place-holder ribbon (to the top edge of the back cover).

Step 9: Line your inner covers with the patterned papers.

Step 10: Punch out the tabs for dividing your notebook into sections from your left-over papers or additional coordinating papers. Score at the half-way point and apply double-sided tape to the insides of the tabs.

Step 11: Add your tabs to the pages of your notebook.

Step 12: Decorate the front of your notebook! I kept these notebooks nice and simple, with images coloured to match the papers and a little tab, but you could add assorted embellishments or ephemera to suit your taste.

So, there you have it! I'm glad you made it to the end of my detail heavy tutorial. If you are inspired to make your own altered notebook OR to create a project using my choice of throwback images (our very own Yumi & Fumi) be sure to share them on the Yumi & Fumi Handmade Facebook Fan page or to leave a comment on this post with a link to your own blog post or online gallery!

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit us here at Yumi & Fumi Handmade!