Look What I Made - Notebooks!

I recently finished making some notebooks using thrifted items.

The first one I made as a gift for my friend Wendy.  I found a Little Golden Book version of "Peter Pan and Wendy" at a local thrift store, and cut it apart.  I started with the front cover,

 kept all the pages of the book

and mixed in plain paper pages

 

that I cut from copier paper.

Then I added the back cover

and bound the whole thing with wire.

Wendy was thrilled with it.  

This is the machine I used.

It is a Bind-It-All binding machine.  

Mom ordered it online from Wal-Mart around Christmas.  She saw a youtube video of someone using it to make a journal out of a vinyl record and was pretty impressed.  She couldn't find it for sale locally so she chose to order it from Wal-Mart because of their easy return policy.  We're still not sure if we are going to keep it.  I'll admit we've had some trouble mastering it; there's a bit of a learning curve, and $50 is too much to spend on a tool we're not super comfortable with.  But we're getting better at it, so we'll see.

I made another little notebook using a postcard I found at the Goodwill Outlet for a few pennies.

This postcard shows the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, which was an exhibit in Disneyland from 1955 until 1966.  

"Where Creative Chemistry Works Wonders For You."

That's a pretty crazy slogan, concerning Monsanto is now known for bringing lawsuits against farmers for "stealing" Monsanto's patented GMO seed because pollen from the Monsanto plants drifted into the farmers' fields and pollinated their crops.

I just cut the card down the middle, making a front, 

and a back.  Then I added about 50 sheets of plain paper, and bound it at the top.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of the finished notebook.

Mom took my teen-aged niece to Goodwill to find something to make into a journal, and Niece picked out a set of  "Your Baby Can Read" sliding word cards.

They look something like this.

Here's the one she chose for the front cover.

 

She used graph paper from a composition book for the inside pages,
and the back cover is the "tongue" word card.

Next up will probably be a recipe notebook using something like

nuclear peaches


recipe comics
or

mmmm... pie.

We also have some VHS boxes to experiment with and we haven't tried the vinyl record yet.  So many possibilities...


I'm linking to the following parties:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Roses of Inspiration

Think Tank Thursday
Tips & Tricks
 Frugal Friday
Bouquet of Talent