Turn an Old Record Cover into a Snazzy Notebook

Aka. Making a 100-page "book of brilliant things."

Confession time: I have an embarrassing weakness for ... stationary. There, I said it. We're talking pens, staplers, notebooks, paper, paperweights, whatever one can find in a stationary. It's not unlike my relationship to cameras (I have about 10, and still coveting more).

But lately, what I've been coveting are things you can't buy in a store. More and more, I'm finding things on the web that I want to make. That I have to make. Not just for me, but for the wife and kid.

So when I saw this tutorial on turning those old vinyl record covers into a journal notebook, I had to try it. That's my first effort on the left, using a Simple Minds cover.


Who it was made for: The wife.
The occasion: None. Just wanted to make it.

Materials:

• Paper. Legal size.
• Old album cover
• Yarn and embroidery needle
• Thumb tacks.
• Paper Cutter
• Binder clips
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Butter knife
  
• Elastic

Check out the Instructable link for the full tutorial with photos, but basically:

1. Measure and cut album cover.
2. Fold the paper.
3. Clip to hold together. Puncture holes.
4. Stitch the binding.
   
5. Put on the elastic.

Ta Da.

Total time: about 2 hours (you could do it quicker, if you're the organized type.)

Total cost: $1.50 (for the elastic).

What I could do better: The stitchings are a little loose. I could try to make them tighter next time.