Old Book Memo Pad

by Jedi_zombie85

3.8K1146

Intro: Old Book Memo Pad

After my other half decided to go back to college to learn to become a childrens nurse, I thought it would be nice to make her a custom note pad from some old unused books around the house.

She loves books and is a massive Harry Potter fan so the intention was to make some Harry Potter style book/note pad from a couple of the old hard backs we have around the house.........needless to say that fell through and she turned into a Dementor and everything went cold ahhaha so i choose some old education books to fit with her learning of the body and with an education theme.

So after re thinking the idea, seeing what ohters had tried and with my girlfriends supervision i decided to give my own version a go.

STEP 1: You Will Need.....

You will need..........

old hardback

bookcraft knife, scissors or a paper cutter

glue

hole puncher

drill

scrap paper

paper brads

STEP 2: Cut Out the Pages

Use a craft knife to carefully slice between the pages and the spine of your book as pictured.

What you need to do is release the pages without accidentally slicing through the cover of your book.

**please be careful**

STEP 3: Trim a Piece of the Cover Page to Glue Over the Exposed Spine

For one reason the first page of most old books is a thicker paper that matches the inside cover.

You can trim this down so that it will cover the spine of your book and a little bit of the inside of the cover.

To glue this paper down, squirt PVA glue onto the paper and spread it out into a nice even coat with a scrap of chipboard. (an old cereal box works great!)

Then, press the paper into the spine of your book and smooth out the rest onto the inside cover.

**To add a bit of textaure to the notepad you can use pages from the book but these will be thinner and might not last as long**

STEP 4: Measure and Cut Your Pages

Once the glue is dry measure the inside cover of your book and figure out how big to cut your scrap paper for the memo pad. I cut the paper an inch or two shorter than the height and width of the book to protect any notes and the pages.

STEP 5: Punch Holes in Your Paper and Mark Them on Your Book

Punch two holes through the top of your stack of paper and lay it down on your book to mark where you will need holes for your paper brads.

STEP 6: Use an Awle or Drill to Punch Through Your Book

I use an awle (if thats how you spell it) to punch through the cover of the book where I marked, but if you have a drill handy you can also drill holes into your book.

Either is fine you could just use a nail to push through but either way be careful and take care of what you might go through the book into.

Then push your paper brads from the outside in through your book and secure your paper pieces through the holes you have already punched into it

STEP 7: Finished.....

And your done..You can get really creative with the inside of you memo pad. Add pockets, collage images from your book, photos or others, or even add a spot to hold a pen or pencil!

Hope this is helpful and all will enjoy making these and using them, as event though both myself and the other half have Ipads, nothing is better than wrighting or doodling in my eyes lol

Enjoy

STEP 8:

6 Comments

FionaH12 8 years ago

Got to give this a go. Thanks for the inspiration ?

Jedi_zombie85 8 years ago

your welcome, deffo be interested to see what you create

lnblecht 8 years ago

I love this idea. Now I finaly know what I can do with all my old books. Would be very cool presents for the highschool or collage kid.

YourMagesty 8 years ago

GREAT IDEA! Drilling two holes thru an existing pad of paper would take seconds and would insure perfect alignment of pages. I can't wait to go find a book to sacrifice to this very cool idea! Thanks!

Jedi_zombie85 8 years ago

no worries, if you have the patience a standard hole punch would work you would just have to reduce the ammount of pages you do at a time, thanks for the feedback, be interested what yours turn out like ;)