It's A Brand New Day - Tina's Pocket Book.

Hello Crafty Friends!
It's that time of year isn't it? When we all make resolutions and promise ourselves we will be more organized this year (or is that just me? lol) So today Tina has the perfect project for us...... a handy pocket book to keep in your handbag and jot down all those inspirations that hit you through the day. And it's coffee themed! You can't go wrong with that!!

Hello everyone and thank you for joining me for my first project in 2019.
Last year was a very busy year for me and I was not as organised as I had hoped to be, so for my first project I made a small pocket book that fits nicely in my handbag. I plan to take it with me wherever I go, since sometimes I have ideas and find that if I don't write them down right away,  I tend to forget all about them later on. This little pocket book will be where all my ideas, plans, inspirations and to do lists for my crafting projects will be kept, and because I love my coffee (especially while crafting) I am happy to use the wonderful papers for this months theme,
Echo Park - Coffee.

The notebook was made with no dies and is really easy to make.
I started with the 6 x 6 paper pad and cut my front and back covers with the measurements below. I scored the pieces on the right side of the front piece and the left side of the back piece so the pattern continued on the right way.

Next I used a corner punch to round the edges and inked them with Distress Ink Vintage Photo. (I am showing the inside so you can clearly see the score lines).

Carefully glue the front and back together along the spine. I always glue the front onto the back because it looks neater.

I made a little template for the holes needed on the spine.

Then I secured the template onto the spine with washi tape and poked the holes only slightly through.

I added It's A Wonderful Life...After Coffee from the Ephemera pack.

Next I passed it through my laminator twice.

Cut around the edges leaving a small amount of the plastic and pass through the laminator once more.
Fold and burnish the score lines.

Now you can poke the holes through and add eyelets if you like.

I used brown elastic from my stash to thread my book.

The instruction below is just to show how I thread the spine and I have labelled which hole is which in the picture. Start with the inside of the book cover and bring the elastic up from the outside of hole one down to hole two.. Bring the elastic back through hole three up to four, then through five. The elastic end should be on the inside. Bring it down to hole six and then back up through hole three. The other end that is on the outside of hole one can be cut a few inches long and the end is threaded through hole four. tighten the tension as you like and tie the two ends together and cut away the excess.

Here is the inside.

The outside.

Now for the inserts.
Fold two pieces of printer paper in half vertically and cut slightly bigger than measurements shown below. You will get two pieces from the folded paper and I use five (ten folded sheets) for each booklet, which will give me twenty pages each.

Next I use papers from the 12 x 12 solids pack and the pattern papers to make the covers.

I used a craft knife and the metal side of my Tim Holtz ruler to cut the booklets down to the size shown above.

Don't try and cut too much in one go. I usually cut two layers with every slice to ensure an even and clean cut.

Next I made another template for the holes for each booklet to be threaded.

Place the template in the center pages of the booklets and poke the holes through.

I used some embroidery thread. Start from the inside through hole one, come up through hole two, down into hole three and back up through hole one. Tie the ends together and cut the excess leaving a small tail.

I made four of the inserts.

Finally, I added some charms from my stash to the elastic closure and threaded it through the center hole in the spine, tied a knot to the ends and my little Pocket Book is finished.

This really is a simple project and the book can be made bigger or smaller to suit your needs. This one is perfect to keep with me constantly.
I hope you enjoyed this project.
Thank You And Happy Crafting.
Tina xxx
The items I chose for this project can be purchased HERE