Crafty Schmafty Fridays 10

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

Oh, I'm so glad to be back . . . creating . . . sharing ideas . . . having fun!

This weeks "Crafty Schmafty Fridays" idea is in honor of Earth Day, and something I am so very excited to be sharing with you.

 Before we begin . . . a little background for you . . .

For those of you who know my Ella, you probably know that she is rarely seen without some sort of pad of paper and pencil in her hands. This child has, since she first learned how to hold a crayon, been obsessed with doodling. We can't make it through a quick trip to Michaels or Target without stopping at the $1 section and picking up a little notebook for Miss Ella to use. And as the $1 section at Michaels is really now the $1.50 section . . . I wanted to come up with a little handmade goodie to substitute all those little $1's that have flown out of my wallet the past few years. I also wanted to try and use some materials in my home . . . with spending as little money as possible. So . . . I came up with the simplest, fastest, and cutest little project. Let's begin, shall we?  

Last week, I picked up one of those mini-cereal box sets at Costco. I don't usually buy these, as I do try to fill the girls with as little sugar as possible (including their cereal choices). But I must have had a weak moment and decided to pick it up. After the girls enjoyed a few boxes this week, I couldn't bring myself to throwing the little cereal boxes away . . . they are SO CUTE! That's were my "Earth Day" project came to be. I looked at these little boxes and thought, "What in the world can I make with these boxes?" and it immediately came to me! So, I grabbed just a few things we had on hand in the house (duct tape, white printer paper, a stapler, scissors and my paper cutter) and I got to work.

I was careful when opening the boxes that I didn't use the perforations indicated for opening. I just opened at the top and bottoms and slide the bag of cereal out. Next, I cut (from top to bottom) one side of the box, like so . . . .

 



Next, I went to my paper trimmer and I trimmed off the excess pieces from the top and bottom (and one side) of the box . . .  

Once it was trimmed nice and smooth, I folded the rectangle in half to make a book . . .

Here is another look at the box folded . . .

Next, I measured to determine the paper size, and cut the printer paper accordingly . . .

I used about 6-8 pieces of paper, which (when folded in half) makes each notebook 12 or 16 pages. This seems to be big enough for Ella . . . as she loses interest in her little notebooks and moves on to the next one rather quickly (which is why I seem to always be buying them!) The paper needs to be cut in the entire width of the rectangle cover, so that you can fold it in half and then staple in the center of the notebook, which is the next step . . .

 Finally, I used duct tape on the for the binding on the outside of the notebook . . .

 

Here is a look from the top . . .

And here are a few of the finished notebooks . . . I LOVE THEM!!!

Look at how cute they would look tied up with some twine with a few mechanical pencils! What a cute gift, don't you think? It would be so sweet for kids birthday party favors, or even for class room holiday parties.

I found this little chalkboard bin (another Target $1 section pick-up) and have a bunch of these little notebooks in them sitting on our counter. Whenever Katie, Ella, or one of their friends are looking for a little pad of paper, I'm going to grab one of these. HOW CUTE!

Now I find myself looking at EVERY SINGLE BOXED FOOD ITEM in my pantry, thinking, "Oooooo . . . that would make a LOVELY notebook!" I think I'm a little obsessed. Think about it . . . macaroni and cheese notebooks, cake box notebooks, granola bar notebooks, fruit snack notebooks, cracker notebooks . . . I could go on . . . but I'm pretty sure you get the idea . . .  

And the best part of all? I'm pretty sure Miss Ella LOVES them!!!

So there you have it, friends. A wonderful Earth Day friendly project YOU could do today!

Please pass it along with your friends . . . pin it . . . share it . . . tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you!

Peace, my friend, and Happy Crafty Schmaftying to you!