I am a pen and paper kind of person. There is just something great about writing everything down. There are all kinds of notebooks and pens around my house. If I see it and like it I buy it if it is reasonably priced. There are some pens and notebooks that I am willing to pay a little more for if it’s just perfect. One of the best places for this stationary is Indigo. Every time I go in there are pens and notebooks I want. It never fails.
Cross pens are one of my favourite brands. They write nicely, have a really nice weight and a nice look. I have a few different colours and sizes. The thicker pens tend to be my favourite. For notebooks I prefer blank or dotted pages. There is more freedom to write or create images. I'm not a big fan of having the lines that are confined to one area and if you write over the line it looks weird and it honestly bothers me.
The notebook I am currently using didn’t have anything on the front of it. I take it pretty much everywhere with me, to write down my ideas, work on posts while I am not near my computer or to keep myself busy. One day I decided to add a decal to the front to make it more personal. I wanted the design to be simple, a fun unique shape and have pretty florals on it.
This is a great project for anyone just getting started with their Cricut machine wanting to make something simple and functional!
Materials:
- Notebook - hard covered or soft covered
- Oracle vinyl - copper or desired colour
- Cricut Design Space - tablet/phone/computer
- Cricut machine - any cutting machine
- Green standard mat
- Weeding tool
- Scraper
- Measuring tape/ruler - Optional
- Transfer tape - standard grip or strong grip for glitter vinyl
How to make:
- Open up Design Space and start a new project.
- Measure the size of the notebook and create a square the same size. It helps with sizing the image. This isn’t necessary, but I like doing it for a visual reference.
- Once you have the square, create your own design or use a design already available. I wanted a floral wreath image.
- Now take your image or design and place it on top of the square (if using square) and size it. If you aren’t doing the square make your image the size you want.
- Take your vinyl and put it on to the green standard mat and run your scraper over the vinyl to help adhere to the mat.
- Go to "Make it", load the mat, make sure your material is set to vinyl and then hit "Cut".
- Weed the design or image.
- After you have weeded, and you are ready to apply the decal you just created to the notebook, place your transfer tape on the decal.
- Use the scraper to rub over the decal and transfer tape to help adhere it and get rid of bubbles.
- Peel the backing off the decal so it is just on the tape and then place the decal on to the notebook.
- Before peeling off the transfer tape take the scraper and rub it over the notebook to help adhere and get bubbles out.
- When you are satisfied with it pull the transfer tape off.
You now have a customized notebook just the way you want it!
The same steps can be pretty applied to putting vinyl on anything; a few adjustments would just have to be made for sizing and if the item is curved or for the material.
If you have any questions, comments or even made a custom notebook pop them in the comments box below. I would love to hear from you or see your new creations!
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