Notepad Tutorial Part I: Making the notepad

Part I of this tutorial is for making a basic notepad which can be made from scrap copy paper (which I use at work to be greener using paper from misprints or printouts which would normally end up in the trash). Part II will be for making a matchbook style notepad.

PVA adhesive (approximately $16 for 8oz bottle) dries to a rubbery and flexible adhesive as seen in commercially manufactured notepads.  It enables easy removal of used pages while keeping the rest of the pad intact.  An 16oz bottle will enable you to make thousands of notepads this size.

Chipboard (thicker = better) – Cut to 4 ¼”x 3”

Plain paper (standard copy/printer paper) – Cut to 4 ¼” x 3”

Cardstock (for covered notepad only) – Cut to 3” x ½”

Adhesive

High capacity stapler

PVA adhesive

Other paper adhesive or glue gun (for covered notepads only)

Scoring blade (optional for covered notepads)

Part I:

Cut your chipboard and paper to size (3” x 4 ¼” in this case).  I have used 50 pages per pad making the notepads approximately ¼” thick.  I used the perforation blade which came with my YourStory Rotary Cutter to make perforation lines at ¾” of each page.  This is very time-consuming and is completely unnecessary if you aren’t covering the notepad.

Carefully align your chipboard backing and pages, then apply a small line of PVA glue across the edge.

 Evenly spread the PVA with a small paint brush.

Carefully, place a large binder clip on the glued edge, taking care not to get glue on the clip itself.

Allow glue to set according to the manufacturer’s instructions (usually about 4 hours).

If you aren’t covering the notepad, I suggest adding an extra piece of paper to the front and back of the notepad which can be removed after the PVA has set.  This is give you a cleaner look in case any adhesive has overflowed onto the edges.

There are so many possibilities for these.  I’ve been making them for use at work for years.  We waste so much paper so I began to cut the paper in quarters (4 pieces per sheet) and using a standard office stapler to make them into a pad.  These are perfect for jotting down information while on the phone, and I feel better using the paper a second time.  I’ve made photo notepads as gifts for friends.  Using Microsoft Word, you can lighten the saturation of the photo (I have ZERO photo editing skills), and print a lightened image directly onto the pages for your notepad.  You could also use favorite movie quotes, song titles, inspirational quotes.  The possibilities are endless.

See Part II for making this pad into a matchbook-style notepad.

TTFN,
V