Little notepads out of cereal boxes!

Post updated on 07/03/2013 - Finally I saw this again on Pinterest and with a link to the original tutorial! So I can now update this post with the appropriate credit. I am also adding at the end a picture of the notepads I made myself, that at the time of the post I was too lazy to take... Well, for the original tutorial by Creme de la Craft, visit this link. Note that when I wrote my version of it, I did it based only on the picture and on my experience of making it... So the steps are not necessarily the same as Natalie's.

For a long time I collected notepads. I just couldn't stop buying them, but for some very weird reason I also couldn't use them! They were so beautiful, brand new, immaculate. They even smell great! There was nothing like a brand new notepad...

Anyway, I guess I am less crazy today. With all my different projects I actually, for the first time in my life, needed more notepads than I was buying them. Worrying. Well, not really, as over a month ago I came across this amazing idea. Unfortunately I saved the pictures, but not the website. So I decided to give it a go myself and write my own version of how to make it. 

Photo Credit: Natalie of Creme de la Craft

So here is how you make them. Open a cereal box, choose what size you want your notepad to be and cut it. Remember your cover should be slightly bigger than your inside pages. 

Note: I use a corner cutter to give that rounded effect on the borders. You can do it with scissors, but I find the finish with the cutter a lot smoother. 

Place as many blank pages as you wish inside your notepad. Remember not to overload it, otherwise you might make your life a bit too hard. The next step is to sew them to your cover. I did mine with cotton yarn and used a medium size tapestry needle for that. 

Now it is time for you to be creative and make it look nice! You can use some scrap paper and mod podge to create that effect on corner. You can also use the same colour yarn as before to add a little button to the front cover. 

Note: When sewing the button, remember to start from the inside of the notepad and to finish as you come off the cover, but missing the button. This way you can leave enough yarn to go around the notepad and wrap it around the button, keeping it closed.

Photo Credit: Natalie of Creme de la Craft

One last trick. Either with mod podge (but be careful not to over use it) or with double sided tape, glue the first and last page to the inner front and back covers, this way hiding the original design of the cereal box. 

This is the pair I made! Picture take with Pentax K-x 

Aren't they gorgeous?! I think it is a great gift idea for classmates over Christmas. You can use white A4 paper for the pages but you can also experiment and try a lighter tone of brown paper or maths paper or even create personalised pages on Photoshop, with a different message or drawing on each one!  

>> For more ideas out of cereal boxes, read Cereal Boxes + Wrapping Paper + Mod Podge = DIY Magazines & CDs organisers