July 22, 2010

Back to school notebooks...

School will be back in session before we know it. Soon after all the ballgames and vacations are over, the visions of new book bags, clothes, new classmates, sports....and a new school for us....will be upon us. I always like to send the girls off with a few fun teacher gifts on the first day of school. And I like to give my librarian and mom friends a nice little gift too. Kind of a *whew, we survived the summer* kind of gesture. :)

In my true assembly line style, I highly suggest that you take some time out of your busy summer schedule to just sit and stamp. I started my project by knowing that I wanted to make some notebooks.....but I didn't have a set design in mind. I just grabbed some products....that are so easy to coordinate with all of Papertrey's matching supplies....and just started creating.
At the front of the class are my apple doodads. So fun for front and center embellishments. Mine use a stamped dotted circle from Take Note, a felt circle, red and white twine, a Pure Poppy Vintage Button and a punched apple(Martha Stewart from Michael's). Other goodies shown below are punched and stamped circles using School Time, and some tied Vintage Chartreuse Buttons.
Here I've made some wooden looking rules using It's Official on Kraft Cardstock. With a little distress ink and some Fresh Snow ink, I've added depth and dimension. Run them through the woodgrain die and you've got even more realistic looking rulers.
Using my Carnival Tickets in Candied Apple and some sentiments from Take Note, I've created instant accents.
The colors I used were inspired by the Beautiful Blooms papers.
Once your embellishments are all complete, then it's time to assemble some notebooks. I used White Notepads and Chartreuse cardstock for my notebook covers.
Then I just had fun and pieced the elements onto my notebooks in mixy matchy fashion.
It's fun to make each notebook a little different.
Especially if you're letting people pick out their notebook from a basket. People love to do that!
Soon enough you'll have a little stack of goodies, all ready for the first day of school.
Until the bell rings, happy creating!

29 comments:

Patti J said...

Michelle, you always make this look so easy! I do think you are right about finding time to sit and stamp! I spend a lot of time on the computer that should be spent crafting! Wonderful notebooks!!!

Cassandra said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous Michelle. I may have to 'borrow' this lovely idea for when we finish the school year in December. My daughter has had a really wonderful teacher this year and I think she would love a few handmade pieces like this.

Margaret C said...

Mish, these are BEAUTIFUL!!! As a teacher, I'd love to get one of these on the stressy first day back !

Robbie said...

Real cute! Love the rulers!!

Sue Lelli said...

This could not be any CUTER!

Nancy Jensen said...

These are great gifts! I've been going back through your posts and love all your projects, especially your vintage style ones. I know this question doesn't apply to this particular post but I didn't see where to email you so I'll just ask you here. Where do you get your Wrinkle Ribbon? I LOVE IT!!! I neeeeed some. LOL

Thanks!
Nancy

Kathy Martin said...

These are super cute and I bet they'll be well received! :)

Anne Tussing said...

Oh, this idea is so great! I want some of those notebooks myself!

Cammie said...

Fantastic notebooks! I was just thinking about making some notebooks for my former coworkers as they head back to the classroom. Thanks to you I have some great inspiration to treat my friends and help them ease back to school.

Mariah said...

Great job-what teacher wouldn't love getting one of those notepads? And I love your new profile picture-very pretty!

Tasha said...

Very cute!

Mary Sara P. said...

These are too cute. How did you assemble the notebooks? I'd love to make some notebooks for a holiday marketplace I'm doing. Great inspiration as always.

Debbie Olson said...

Beautiful, Mish! I'm sure they will all appreciate something that's useful too!

Anonymous said...

That is the cutest thing I've seen all day, I need that baking twine!

kbhistory said...

Totally cute and cool! As a teacher and mom - I want to hop right into my craft room and use the new stamps that JUST arrived from PTI!!!! Can't wait! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!!
-Kristin B.

diane mcvey said...

Your notebooks are FANTASTIC! I'm sure everyone loved them. What a nice gesture, to start the year out right! You are a sweetheart...but I already knew that! :D
Have a wonderful weekend!

Wendi said...

Amazing! These are my all time favorites of yours. I love the colors! I better get started!

Amy Rohl said...

Just love these!! You are always so inspiring, Mish!

Gail S. said...

Super Cute idea, Mish!!! I love this for my office workers. Thanks for the great idea :)

scrappingnana said...

Awesome. Love the way you made each one different with the embellishments you made. TFS

Rhonda Miller said...

These are great. How fun.

Deirdre said...

Great idea, beautiful colours, what wonderful notebooks.

Jen said...

Super cute. Love the way all these elements come together so nicely.

Troy Louise said...

These are so sweet. Love your color combo as well as the stitching with the twine! So fun. Thanks.

feltonthefly said...

What a sweet and thoughtful idea. Not to mention a fun way to kick off the school year! This project looks like so much fun...Thanks.

Helen L said...

love your notebooks: I went back to some of your older posts, and I love them ALL. What a creative artist your are!! TFS! Have a great weekend!

Diana said...

I absolutely love it when you make notebooks. They are a favorite of mine to make to give to friends. I find so much inspiration with your designs on these notebooks. I love to see how you put paper and images and embellishments together. Thank you for taking all of the pictures, it helps me to visualize the whole process.
You are so good to us.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the notebooks. I was inspired, so DD and I just finished making 10 notebooks with an office theme. We will give them as favors to the people coming Saturday to help us make her wedding favors. It was fun. I will definitely make more!

Unknown said...

nice blog you have...

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