DIY: How To Make A Stylish Washi Tape Notebook

Happy National Stationery Week!

Like most of you lovely crafters, there's nothing I love more than japanese washi tape. So many pretty colours and patterns - the joys are endless! We thought we would share a little series of washi tape DIY projects to celebrate of our favourite holiday... And our first one has come in particularly handy for keeping note of our adventures!

I don't know about you, but I love a good sketchbook. Big ones, small ones, some as wide as your head... and then there's the ones that cost more money than sense! Here's how you can to turn a boring (but super cheap!) notebook into one you'll be in love with forever :)

All you'll need is some washi tape, scissors, a marker pen, a bulldog clip and some letter stickers. You can always improvise if you don't have the stickers too - anything's possible here!

Start by using your bulldog clip to hold your notebook closed. You want the pages of your book to be tightly bound together but not warping. This will prevent your pen from slipping and ink going all over the paper inside.

*I absolutely adore books that have coloured or gold leaves on the outside. A metallic gold marker is an excellent cheap substitute for the latter!*

Using your marker pen, slowly and gently colour in all around the paper edges. 

Don't worry if the ink seeps into the pages a little here that as gives your custom notebook more character! 

Once you're done, give the book 5 minutes to dry. The pages won't stick together, but you don't want to get ink everywhere in the next stage...

To get our lovely polkadot cover I used Washi tape (surprise!) 

The easiest way to do this is to stick down lengths of tape that are longer than your book. Make sure each line of tape is straight and matches up - you don't want to leave any gaps.

When you're done, trim all the way around your book using sharp scissors. Leave a few millimetres of tape all the way around. Finally, fold down all the tape inside the sketchbook to protect your corners and neaten it up. 

If you trim the tape flush to the cover, the tape will catch and peel more easily and wear quicker with time.

Ooooh! Pretty! Pretty!

No notebook is ready until it has a title on the cover! 

We've used some adorable glitter letter stickers to finish ours off, but if you don't have these you could always make a label. Why not use a cute stamp on a piece of paper and glue it on? Or even stick down your favourite photo? Either way it is going to look  awesome... see for yourself:

Hello indeed!

 *Ta*Da*
Isn't this new notebook just amazing? And to think it was all buff and boring but half an hour ago...

With so many different coloured and patterned tapes, stickers and marker pens available you'll never run out of ways to decorate your notebooks again. Say farewell to ordinary notebooks and having the same as everyone else; Viva La Washi Tape Revolution!

We hope you've enjoyed our DIY! We'd love to hear what you'd add to our Hello Sweetie book to make it pop a little more...

Happy Making

xox

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