Guest Designer Kandi Phillips: Composition Notebook Purse Tutorial

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be part of Guest Designer week here at the DCRU Blog! Today I'll be showing you how to make your own Composition Notebook Purse. These are super simple to make, and can be totally customized for the recipient! These also make great gifts for any little girls you know that love to draw or doodle, make lists, or just want a cute notebook to tote around! (My 10 year old fits the bill on all three I think!)

Here's a list of supplies you'll need:
-Composition Notebook
-Patterned Papers
-Embellishments and stamps
-Adhesive

-Exacto knife, scissors, and paper trimmer

Begin by measuring and marking off the corners of a composition notebook for a purse shape. To keep mine even, I went from the inside corner and measured 2.5 inches on each side. Then I angled my ruler on one side and drew a line at a downward angle. Once that side was complete it was just a matter of matching that bottom angle and doing the other side.

I cut the cover with scissors, but then used an exacto knife to cut the sheets.

Once each side is completed, pick out a patterned paper and trace and cut for both sides of the notebook. For mine, I wanted the spine be a different color, so I left that part for later. Adhere with scor-tape around the edges.



I used the Blue Skies collection for my papers here. Beautiful Day is my base paper, and I used the reverse side of Happy Happy Joy Joy to cover the spine. Its a great brown color that works perfectly for this! I was thinking it looked like leather for a purse bottom! For the spine, I cut it at 9 3/4 and 2 1/2 inches, and applied it over the base paper.




Next, you'll want to assemble the handles. There are a couple of ways you can do this, so its really up to you! You can use a Crop-A-Dile and tie ribbon through eyelets, or do like I did and create a fun "closure" for your purse!


First, cut the lengths of ribbon for both sides. I didn't measure anything, I just eyeballed it and cut where I thought would be a good length.





Then, cut an oval, circle, or any shape you want for your closure. That gorgeous aqua blue color is the reverse side of the Pocket Full of Sunshine paper. By adding the oval over the ribbon, it completely hides the ends, and gives your project an overall finished look!




After adhering the ribbon and oval, I decided it need a little dressing up! I used the flower border from the Fun stamp set. What a fun name for a stamp set right?! (Haha, pun totally intended!) I love how all of these things in the Blue Skies collection really go together! Its so simple to embellish my project with all these fun accessories! Also, because this is a clear stamp set, it means you can bend that straight line of flowers for a unique border!




Once the border was stamped, I cut some flowers out on my Cricut, and used the Blue Skies buttons in the center of my flowers. See, so easy to add coordinating embellishments to your project!





Finally, I wanted a few details to finish off my purse! No purse is complete without a little label right?! I made a happy little discovery while I was playing around with this FUN stamp set. (Sorry, that never gets old! I dare you to not have fun with it!) The marquee shape stamp fits perfectly with the marquee on the Storybook Cartridge! Since they are clear, you can see exactly where its going and create your own embellishment easy as pie! I found cutting it out at 2 1/2 inches was a perfect fit!

I stamped the small flower with leaves below the happy, and then added another little button to the center of this flower.




Then, because this stamp set is so fun and versatile, I stamped the days of the week in the notebook for my daughter. She can make a to do list, or jot down any ideas she has during the week. Plus, she can stamp the days when she runs out of pre-stamped ones, and come up with her own fun designs for each page!





Here's the completed purse! I purchased the notebooks at Wal-Mart for under a dollar, and also found some mini composition books. Those would be great for friend gifts, or birthday party favors!

I hope you're all enjoying this fun week of tutorials on the DCRU blog! I'd love to see your take on this project, I'm sure they will all be fabulous!