office supplies meets crafting

Ok, a short break from birthday cards for now... Actually, I'm posting a short tutorial! :) Just keep reading!

It's back to school season again! This means, it's time to buy office supplies for cheap. I don't know about anyone else, but sticky notes is a necessity on my desk. So I went out and bought a bunch of sticky notes.


Then, on Pinterest, I stumbled upon Nancy's blog and thought these note pads (to the right) were so cute! So I made a version of my own.

Instead of using legal paper pads, I used my new purchased sticky notes. And I made these:

 

I think I'll sell these at the next craft show! Notice the cupcakes on on some of them. I thought those were perfect for Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge: Food and/or Drinks. So the sticky note pads that I got were 3"x3" and about 50 sheets (thin pads). First I inked up the sides using Distress Ink. 

(This particular one that I'm showing you is perfect for Simon Says Stamps: Monday Challenge: Citrus with a Twist. I love this distress orange shade - dried marigold!) Then I took some pattern paper and cut them into 2 - 4"x4" squares. These are the covers of the note pad. Next, I cut thin chipboards to 2 - 3.25"x3.25" squares and 1 - 0.5"x3.25" strip. I didn't have chipboards so I used a mailer instead. It worked out great! For the inside, I cut a 3"x7" strip. Lastly, for the outside binding, I cut a 1.5"x6" strip; scoring at every 0.5" vertically.

Now that I had all my pieces, I can assemble! You can use any wet adhesive or tape. It doesn't really matter; I used both. First, the covers: I adhered the squared chipboards and pattern paper together. Then, laid them onto the outside binding. Between the covers, I laid the 0.5" strip of chipboard in the middle. Please see picture below:

To add a pop color, I used some ribbon. (This is optional, you don't have to do this.) I flipped what I had assembled so far and adhered the ribbon. 

Then I flipped it back again and folded the excess binding paper and ribbon towards the middle. More  adhesives were added along with the inside paper. At this point, I would take my bone folder and rescore the score lines from the binding piece. Except, score it from the inside. Make sure to fold along the score lines to help the papers bend properly. Now the entire cover is done; just let it dry a bit. Now it's ready for the sticky pads. I took the back of one of the pads off and stuck it right on top of the other. 

Using some Scor-Tape to the back, I added the pads onto my cover piece. And now it's done! You may choose to embellish the front as you please. I had so much, I took on a new challenge, using the same concept and made a legal note pad cover as well. (You can see all the sticky pads in this picture too!)

This legal pad can be replaceable once it is used up. I believe that many Stampin' Up demonstrators has videos and other blogs that has similar tutorials like this. I encourage you to go check them out! 

We'll be back to summer birthday soon!