Hot Air Balloons notebook cover

I promise this is the last notebook cover I'll share here for a while. 2019 has definitely been the year of notebook cover gifts at our house.

But this one has an even longer background story than the others. First, because I'm just in love with this fabric. Seriously, how cute is it? And then, because it's the second gift I made with it for the same person.

Remember the Hot Air Balloons Bag I shared here a year ago? I made it for one of my daughter's classmates and apparently it was a hit. When my daughter was invited again this year for the girl's birthday party, I decided to go through my stash and search for the leftovers from the bag, and luckily I had enough for a matching notebook cover.

Mini felt notebook with initial

This was another end of year teacher gift. It's a mini-notebook, for which I created a felt cover and added an initial:

Red hearts notebook cover and pencil case set

Hum, yes...I created another of these sets. I seem to be making them every week this year, I certainly need to plan something completely different for next year.

This one was for my daughter's 3rd grade teacher. 

Cupcakes notebook set

Yes, it's another notebook and pencil case set. But this time I bring you cupcakes. And who doesn't love a cupcake, especially if it's calorie free?

Happy clouds DIY notebook and pencil case set

Hello, and welcome to a brand new week! Yes, today I'm showing off another of my notebook sets, but this time there are some differences - first, it's not animal themed. After the dog notebook set and the fox notebook set, I was ready for a change. This happy clouds fabric provided the perfect inspiration. And second, this notebook set is not made of felt.

Although felt is my go-to material when I have to make a quick gift for someone, we all need to take a break sometimes...

Dog notebook and pencil case set

I really want to start sharing something different, but my daughter keeps asking me to make these notebook sets for her friends...at least I have managed to vary the animals...

So, after last week's fox notebook set, this week I bring you the dog notebook set.

Sweet fox notebook & pencil case set

Yes, I made another. For one of my daughter's class mates who turned 9 a couple of weeks ago (actually, I made two more, all different, but I still need to organize the pictures I took of the last ones...).

Notebook & zipper pouch gift set

After the success of the Spring Felt Notebook Cover and the DIY Felt Zipper Pouch, of course I decided to make a new set. This one went to another of my daughter's friends who celebrated her 9th birthday last week.

 This time I used a smaller notebook (just because it was what I already had at home).

DIY Spring Felt Notebook Cover

Hello, and welcome. Today I'm showing off a gift set I made for one of my daughter's friends. We couldn't attend her birthday party because we were out of town, but I still wanted to send a gift. And as I needed something that I could make on the go, I resorted to my themed notebook cover ideas - because you can never go wrong with those. And I used a spring theme, of course!

The only difference is that instead of actually printing pages and assembling a notebook, I used a store bought one I already had and just created the cover.

Upcycled notebook

Hello, and welcome. Today I'm going to show you how I transformed an ugly notebook into something I can now use at the office.

I always like to have my own notebooks at the office, something pretty and not too large, so that it can't fit in my purse if I have to go out for a meeting. As the current notebook was coming to an end, I found myself looking at new notebooks in stores, looking for something inspiring, when I suddenly remembered - if I can make a notebook, why am I buying one?

 

Felt & Ribbon Notebook Cover

I love creating notebook covers They are hugely versatile and with the abundance of free stationary and clip-arts you have on the Web nowadays, it´s really easy to create cute, customized gifts.

For this one, I started with a piece of hedgehogs themed ribbon I've had in my stash for a while.

Hotfoil DIY notebooks

Hello, and welcome. Today I'm going to show you how to make notebooks. Personally I always carry a notebook in my purse to jot down reminders, ideas and anything else that comes to mind. 

These notebooks are perfect for just that. You can make them any size you want and when you finish one - just make another. 

DIY Balloons Notebook Cover

Hello, and welcome. Today I'm sharing with you a felt notebook cover I created as a gift for one of my daughter's school friends.

The notebook cover was assembled using my themed notebook covers tutorial, and it's a very quick project.

DIY Felt Book Covers

I friend asked me to make a few felt book covers, and since I'm trying to destash, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go through my felt scraps and try to come up with something.

I made three different book covers, using my 5 minute book cover tutorial and I think they turned out great even if I was using scraps (that's why two of the covers are two-toned, as I didn't have enough material to make them otherwise).

Book cover number one is a solid gray with a felt and button embellishment:

Book cover number two comes in two shades of blue, with a lacy ribbon serving as both embellishment and a means to hide the center seam:

And the last one (which happens to be my favorite) is made of blue and dark gray felt, with a vintage ribbon across:

These book covers are seriously easy and quick to make, and are a lovely homemade gifts too. The three above have already been delivered to their new owner but I'm thinking they worked so well as a destashing project that I'm going to make a few more in the neat future. 

See below my other destashing projects of 2018 so far:

Destashing #1: Scrappy crochet blanket
Destashing #2: DIY Play Food: cloth napkins & napkin rings
Destashing #3: DIY Doll Diaper - tutorial and pattern
Destashing #4: Zippered Pouches
Destashing #5: Felt envelope clutches



Happy Tuesday,

DIY Frozen bookmarks and book cover

Now that my daughter and most of her friends are in first grade, it's a lot easier to find cute books for them to read by themselves. And because Frozen still seems to be the girls' favorite, that's what I picked for a birthday gift last week.

Still, being the way I am, I couldn't just wrap a little book and be done with it. I had to add my own personal touch. So instead of gift wrap I made a bag that can serve several purposes: it's a gift bag, it's a book cover, and the recipient can use it to store her personal treasures, as all little girls are known to do. 

I didn't create a tutorial this time, but this one is very similar to the Dear Diary Gift Set and the 10-Minutes Tablet Cover I posted here on the blog a while ago. So, if you want to make something exactly like the picture above, with the elastics, just use the 10-Minutes Tablet Cover tutorial and adjust measurements to your book. If you want an alternative with velcro instead of elastics, use the Dear Diary Gift Set tutorial.

While I was at it, I also created a Frozen bookmark using some free Frozen cupcake toppers I printed off Pinterest (find them here), glitter paper and a painted wooden stick. You can find my wooden sticks bookmarks tutorial here, only in this case everything was glued and there was no sewing involved.

In the end, the bookmark looked like this: front...

...and back:

Here is the complete set: 

All in all, it was a great gift idea, perfect for little girls (or boys, because you can easily create a boy version) that are now taking their first steps into the wonderful world of reading, and I'll be sure to come back to it in the future. 

Happy Tuesday, 

New diary gift set

Remember the DIY diary gift set I posted about a couple of weeks ago? That one has already found a new home, my son chose it (between the portfolio of homemade gifts I always have prepared) to give to a girl from his school that turned eight recently and invited him for her birthday party.

In the meantime...hum, yes...I made another. They are so easy to make that I couldn't resist.

They are made with just one strip of felt wide enough for the diary or notebook to fit in once the sides are sewn, and folded over to form an envelope. It closes with a piece of velcro and this time I used my pinking shears to add some detail to the top flap.

I bought a Disney's Violetta diary thinking of one of our friend's daughter that loves Violetta. She'll be turning seven by the end of this month and because she always receives lots of presents, especially from her grandparents, I'm always struggling to find something original to give her.

Over the closure of the envelope I glued a glittery heart (cut with some help from my Sizzix). This not only makes the whole set look cuter but also helps to hide the stitches used to secure the velcro. 

In addition to the diary I also added a matching pen and now I think I have the perfect gift.

If you want to make one and need more detailed instructions, refer to either here or here, or send me an e-mail and I'll be glad to answer to any questions you may have.

Enjoy,

Dear Diary...DIY gift set

 

Last week I was off blogging most of the time. My son was down with the flu in the beginning of the week and then, when he was able to go back to school, my daughter started throwing up. Fun stuff (and a huge load of laundry to take care of)...I just managed to go through some of my regular posts, but not much more than that. I have been busy, but was just not in the right state of mind to sit down and write.

Anyway, everyone seems to be better now, so I'm finally sharing today something that was actually made a couple of weeks ago, at almost the same time as the Stationery Gift Set (check that story here). The felt envelopes gave me all sorts of ideas and one of them was a diary set.

I had actually purchased a while ago a Minnie Mouse diary, complete with lock and key, thinking that with all the girls birthday parties my kids are invited to, it would be a fun gift. It was just the perfect opportunity to make an envelope and create another cute gift set.

Here are the materials: felt for the envelope, a diary or a notebook, a matching pen or pencil (optional, but always looks good - I managed to find some Minnie Mouse pencils at the dollar store) and a matching embellishment - again, optional, but makes the whole set look a little better and in addition covers the stitches used to sew the velcro used to keep the envelope closed (more details on the how-to here).

I made a felt and beads flower (with a glittery center) to match the blue and pink flower in the diary cover. 

After sewing the sides of the envelope and the velcro, and gluing the flower, this is what I got (front and back): 

And here is the complete set: 

Done! One cute and easy gift set that almost any girl will love. And pretty inexpensive too...

I still have at least two other projects in the making using the same envelopes idea, but I've also been busy with a series of upcycling projects (hopefully I'll be able to share the first one tomorrow), so the felt envelopes will wait a little bit more.

Enjoy,

Linking up to the Monday Handmade Linkup Party, to the Show and Share, and to as many parties as possible from my Link Parties Page!