Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » diy wednesdays: pocket full o’ lists

’tis the season for lists! (already… can you believe it?) we’ve got about a dozen going so far: holiday gifts for friends, holiday gifts for each other, ingredients for thanksgiving feasts, etc. we get a kick out of having “a place for everything, and everything in its place” so we like to use different notebooks for different lists. and since we often need to look at various lists at the same time (you know, cross-referencing and such), we created this matching trio of notebooks using the same scallop print in three different colors for the covers, and scrap paper for the pages. then we made a simple little pocket out of cardstock to store them in so they don’t get lost amid the holiday shuffle. just click here for the full instructions and more photos (or click “read more” below)!

have fun!
derek and lauren

What you’ll need:

Paper! (Three 5.25″ x 6.25″ pieces printed on heavyweight paper for the covers, eighteen 5″ x 6″ pieces of scrap paper for the inside pages, and a 7.75″ x 6.5″ piece of cardstock for the pocket)
Stapler
Bone folder
Double-sided tape
X-acto blade
Straight edge
Cutting mat
1″ hole punch (optional)

1. Find a favorite image or pattern for the covers and print out three versions at 5.25″ x 6.25″ onto heavyweight paper or cardstock. Cut out using your x-acto blade and straight edge.

2. Cut out sheets of 5″ x 6″ paper for the inside pages (we used 6 sheets per book, that when folded in half give us 12 handy little pages).

3. Use a bone folder to score your cover stock down the center for easy folding.

4. Take a stack of 6 inside pages and center them on top of a cover piece. carefully holding the stack in place, flip it over and bind all the pages together with 2 staples right on the fold. Repeat for remaining two books.

5. Fold each booklet in half and place under a heavy book for a while to flatten them out.

6. To make the envelope for your little books, cut out a rectangle out of solid colored cardstock that measures 7.75″ x 6.5″.

7. To create the bottom flap and make a seam in the center back of the pocket, you need to cut 2 notches from the bottom of the cardstock. The first is 1″ up from the bottom and 2.75″ from the left side of the paper, the second is 1″ up from the bottom and 1.75″ from the right side.

8. Place your booklets on the rectangle directly above the tab (and flush with the top of the cardstock). Fold the bottom tab up and stick a strip of double sided tape to the top edge. Fold over the left hand side, place a piece of tape on its edge, and finally fold over the right side flap.

9. Use your 1″ hole punch (or scissors) to make a half circle at the top of the pocket for easy access to your ever-growing lists.

What a fantastic idea! I will certainly be making these for myself and for gifts this year. I love how the pocket itself is nice enough so you wouldn’t need to wrap it, just tie some pretty ribbon around it and VOILA.

Ooooh! These are soo cute! I’m glad I stumbled on this! I modified a bit on the set I made.. I was using 12″x12″ scrapbook paper for the covers and realized if I made the cover 5.25″ x 6″ instead of 6.25″ i could actually get 4 covers from a sheet. This made the inside pages 5.75″x5″ and the envelope 7.75″ by 6.25″. Worked great :) Love them! Thanks for the tutorial! …*

i changed this a bit using, lined paper, graph paper and blank paper for the inside. i also use origami rice paper for the covers so i made all the measurement 1 inch smaller. another thing i changed was instead of staples i sowed the bindings it turned out well - just some ideas if you want to try something slightly different.

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