Holiday Gift Ensemble

SPECIAL NOTE: I'VE GOT TWO POSTS TONIGHT SO BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN FOR ANOTHER POST TITLED *WINTER WHITEBOARDS*. YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!!

It's time to think about upcoming gifts for the holiday. I have a very fun and useful project today.....be sure to check out Nichole's Blog for links to the other Papertrey Designers' holiday gift ensembles too. I am certain there will be lots of new ideas for you to try this season.

Every year I make a Holiday Planner for myself and a few close friends and family members. I use this planner to write wish lists, plan menus and make grocery lists, keep track of Christmas crafts, make my Christmas card mailing list, etc. I carry it around everywhere I go and it's so nice to have all my holiday happenings in once place. Once my friends and family saw my Holiday Planners, it wasn't long before they wanted one too. So now I make these up and give them out around October as an early holiday gift. They've come to be a favorite, and well anticipated gift among friends and family. This is the planner, a 5" x 8" lined, junior notepad, found at any office supply store. I embellished the front cover with a cute holiday house using the Papertrey Boards & Beams stamp set and the new Home for the Holidays stamp set. This is a companion set to Boards & Beams with lots of fun holiday additions to turn any house into a fully decked out holiday home. I stamped and then colored my house image with Copic Sketch Markers. I then stamped the holiday windows and doors, colored them with Copics, and then cut them out. You then simply adhere them right over the regular windows and doors. It's kind of like making paper dolls, so fun!! I then cut out my house and adhered it to some of the new Holiday Polka Dot Petite Cardstock. Isn't it cute paper? I then adhered my focal point square to a die cut and embossed large, square Spellbinders Die.

I used more of the polka dot paper along the bottom of my Holiday Planner and then used the PTI Trajan Monogram Edition stamp set to spell out *Holiday Planner*. I always do the consonants in one color and the vowels in second color. Just a fun way to mix things up a bit and add some festive color. I added PTI Pure Poppy Luxe Satin Ribbon to finish off my project. The base layer on the planner front is PTI Spring Moss card stock.
For the inside of my planner, I created a pocket that I can store all kinds of goodies like receipts, wish lists from family members and little note cards.
And don't forget the back of the planner. I used the *handmade by* stamp from Pine's new Rustic Snowflakes set and Spellbinder's Oval Dies to create a little label for the back. I'll be sure to sign my name before I give my gifts away.
Here's some wish lists that I created for my family. Each wish list was stamped with our names and then I added a strip of the polka dot paper to tie in with my Holiday Planner cover. I cut the wish lists out with Spellbinder's long rectangle dies. A few snowflakes from the Rustic Branches set were added beside the names.
I think I'll also tuck in a few small note cards. These images are from the Rustic Snowflake stamp set, along with Pure Poppy Luxe Satin Ribbon. You never know when you might need a little gift card or thank you note during the holiday season.

Okay, are you ready for some instructions on how to create your own Holiday Planner? Here we go. Below is a template I've created for the measurements, score lines and cutting lines. You can zoom in to get a closer look.

Note: Junior notepads can vary slightly in size. Although most are approximately 5" x 8", there are different thicknesses and flaws in cutting. You will want to measure your notepads and tweak the measurements where needed. I needed to add about a 1/16" to my cuts to ensure that I covered my notebook properly. The thickness of my notepads was more than 1/4" also so I made adjustments there too. If you always start your score marks at the left 1" side and use your proper measurements, you'll do okay. Whatever you end up with for measurements on the far left section is what creates the pocket. It doesn't have to be exact.

You will cut this main piece for the notebook cover out of one sheet of solid card stock measuring 8" x 10". I used PTI Pure Poppy. You will also cut a 5" x 8" piece of the same color card stock to cover the back of the notepad.

Once you have your pieces cut, score all edges and fold on the score marks. It's best to use a bone folder to get a nice crisp fold. The Scor Pal and the bone folder that comes with it works great for scoring and making nice crisp folds.

To assemble the notebook cover, place a strip of sticky tape along the right edge of the 1" sections, along the 8" length. This attaches to the back of your notepad, with the 1/4" section becoming the spine of your note pad.

You will use a strong adhesive to then adhere the 5" x 8" piece on the back of the notepad. You can add the *hand stamped by* label later.
Turn your project over. You will place another strip of sticky tape as shown below, along the bottom lower right edge of the card stock. You then fold this piece to right to create your pocket. You can scroll back up to my finished project to see the pocket and it's contents. Now the notebook is nicely covered. You can then embellish the front of the notebook, and the pocket as desired. I also cover the top binding of the notebook with a strip of patterned paper. The approximate measurement for this piece is 7/8" x 5", but again, you will want to measure first to ensure proper dimensions.

Once you have made one of these planner notebooks, they are easy to recreate. I make them all the time for gifts and change out the seasonal embellishments. They're useful, inexpensive to make and the recipient LOVES them!! I hope you try them out this holiday season!!