for years now we’ve been making little notepads out of vintage matchbooks we find at local flea markets. they’re endlessly useful for jotting down notes, numbers, and various “to do’s”. for this project we created a custom set to keep track of books, movies, and music we want to check out, but the best thing about these is you can make them in all shapes and sizes for whatever your needs may be. we also used our new favorite toy (a custom stamp set from the office supply store) to make a fun set of calling cards that we can tear out and give to new friends.
have fun!
-derek & lauren
click here for the full project or just click “read more” below.
here’s what you’ll need:
-vintage matchbooks and/or card stock
-paper
-bone folder (optional)
-x-acto blade, metal straight edge, and cutting mat (or a papercutter with a perforating blade attachment) [like this one]
-stapler
-staple remover (optional)
-custom stamp kit [like this one] (optional)
1. if you are creating a notepad out of a vintage matchbook, remove the matches by taking out the staple holding them in place. to make your own “matchbook” cut out a piece of card stock (about 4 1/4” x 1 1/2”) and use a bone folder to create creases for the top and bottom folds. The easiest way to do this is to line up your card stock with an actual matchbook of the same size and score your paper at the same points.
2. measure the area previously occupied by the matches and cut your pages to size. for added fanciness, and to make the pages easier to tear out, measure the depth of the bottom lip of the book and perforate your pages that distance from the bottom of you pages (approximately 1/2”). If you don’t have a perforator, you can achieve the same effect by running your paper through an unthreaded sewing machine.
3. stack the pages, and place them in the book. fold up the bottom lip and attach it all together with a staple (we found that our stapler could handle about 14 sheets of paper).
4. we labeled out notebooks using a fun custom stamp kit, but you can decorate them however you please.
