DIY Notepads from Paper Scraps

Got scraps? Make memo pads! I made almost 30 DIY notepads for administrative professional's day. I used plain copy paper cut to size, tissue boxes for covers, and paper scraps for embellishments.

I have a video walkthrough of all the ones I made (minus 2 smaller ones that in had to pop in the mail before filming).

I got the copy paper free and, for my favourite 2 sizes, 10-12 sheets makes 3 pads of 20-24 pages. The pads themselves are very easy to make with loads of video tutorials readily available. Since I am klutzy with a glue gun, I used the slower, Elmer's glue method. I have no idea if these pads will hold up to having sheets torn out or will split into pieces part way through. Only one way to find out - USE them!

What I like about them is that, for cardmakers, when your pad is all done, you can trim the front covers to a smaller rectangle and use it as an embellishment on a card!

I tried to keep all the sentiments positive and happy thoughts.

I even did a little DIY on some embellishments. I made these faux enamel dots with cardstock, gold nail polish, glossy accents (glue) and good ol' scissors.

(Click picture for larger view.)

Want to see them all? Click the picture below to go to my YouTube channel to see them!

Happy Easter!

I went to the Lindt factory outlet in my part of the city. I love that they carry some Ghiradelli chocolates. I bought some squares and some bars for co-workers as Easter treats. Well, I had to dress them up!

I recently purchased a Marianne Design bunny die set. I don't normally go for bunnies but there's A LOT of versatility in this set.

I put them in the mug because I think that is sweetest. They have the little arched eyes and I knew I could use those on my fox die from Marianne Design too that I use for die cuts that look like our husky. (I just noticed now that I did one set of eyes arched up and one arched down! Oh well, both look okay to me!)

The wrapping paper is just from a kraft roll from Michaels. I stamped all over it with a Stampin' Up! flower set. (It wasn't hard but it took a while to cover the whole paper.) I used a Your Next Stamp tag topper die. It cuts the shape at the top but has no bottom so you can make the tag as long as you want.

Behind the bunnies, I just used a wash of colour. The pink bunny is from a Tombow watercolour marker.

I even made the "enamel dot" heart! I used some acrylic paint and then blobbed some Glossy Accents dimensional glue over it in a heart shape (two tear drops joined together). I let it dry and then cut it out by hand. I think it turned out very well! I love that it's semi-flat - good for mailing. (And it's sparkly because the paint was sparkly.)

I did the same techniques on the blue one.

You can see the dimension of the homemade enamel dots better in the second picture. For this one, I used dollar store nail polish on black cardstock underneath the dimensional glue.

I made a little basket for the squares out of my french fry box die. You basically cut two backs of the die and stick them together and then make little handles. (Sorry, didn't get a picture of that one. It was getting pretty late at night!)

I think they turned out cute and I'm very proud of my dots. They are not perfect circles like manufactured dots, but when they are scattered on a card and given to non-crafters - I'm sure no one will examine them closely enough to notice.

P.S. this project used only scraps! Love it!