craftgrrl | matchbook notepad tutorial

Sorry my images aren't the best, it's currently storming outside so there isn't any sun. :/

Design what you want your matchbook notepad cover to be made of. (OR draw on some cardstock. OR use some pretty scrapbook paper over cardstork. OR use magazine cutouts. OR use your imagination!) Just fyi, the size an image needs to be to approximately equal the size of a regular sheet of computer paper is 1600x2200 pixels. That lets me fit six of these covers on one sheet.

For those curious, this is the paper I use for my covers. I love this stuff. I use it for cards, mini booklets, faux art prints, whatever.

Printed out!

You'll need a template. I made this template after first designing and printing my initial covers, but you can design the template first and then design your covers. Either way. This particular template is about 5 1/2 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide. Mark where the folds will be. (There will be THREE folds, ignore my messed up, scratched out line. lol.) From the left side of the template, the first line is 2 inches in, then the next line is 1/2 inch after that, then the third line is 2 1/3 inches in.

My template matches my design perfectly. If they don't match, then your folds will be in the wrong places and the matchbook won't close right.

Get yourself a straight edge and a sharp knife and cut away.

You'll want to match the template to the design so that the focal point of your design is on the front flap.

With the design part face down, and your template face up so you can see the lines, use a straight edge to start folding the paper along the lines.

Make gentle creases at first, you can firm them up later when the paper's in.

You can see it coming together now.

Here's the cover all creased, without paper. You can see it's a very simple design.

Get yourself a stack of paper. You can use any kind of paper. Here I just used two sheets of computer paper, and kept folding it in half and cutting with my knife until I got about the right size. This stack is too big for one notepad, I'll use about 1/3 of it (approximately 15-20 pages) inside.

Trim up the edges of the paper so they are neat and straight.

Slide it into the cover, make sure it's centered and lined up nicely, and that the cover can close over the paper. If there's too much (if it goes over the sides or above the fold), just take it back out and trim off any excess.

A couple of well placed staples...

Firm up your creases at the top...

And tadaaa, you have yourself a matchbook notepad! Hope this helped and is what people were looking for. <3 Thanks for everyone's great comments on my last entry, I really appreciate it.