How to make a one of a kind vintage look notebook

I always have a ready supply of notebooks – stuck in my purse, on my desk, stashed in drawers – as far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many notebooks. Which means I'm always on the lookout for a good buy to add to my supply. It doesn't matter what they look like because I'll be changing that anyway. This little one I picked up for .23 centimes (about .35 cents) is a prime example.

I wanted a small notebook for my purse and at 3" by 4 1/2" (11cm x 7.5cm) this one is the perfect size. I began by giving it a quick coat of white acrylic paint.

While the paint was drying I went to my ephemera and chose this Companion magazine from March 1955 for my source.

I decided to work with this stylish lady in black and white. The black and red theme dictated my color scheme. The flowers are punched from the red hassock and another darker image in the magazine. The cover is the contents page. When it comes to words – I just choose whatever takes my fancy.

The only glue I use when doing this kind of work is YES! stick flat glue. It doesn't buckle and it doesn't dry right away, so you have a little time to line up the image if you need too (I can't find this product in Europe so when I'm in the States I stock up!). After it had dried, I used Decopatch varnish to give it a smooth finish, some shine and to protect the images.

There's a wonderful transparent quality to old paper.  When you use it, whatever is on the back side can bleed through. Only the paper is unpredictable so you're never quite certain what you're going to get. Around the edges on the cover and on the back side of the notebook, the darker figure on the reverse side of the paper has bled through a bit more than I anticipated. Oh well, as Tim Holtz says, 'Embrace imperfection!'

I put some little pearl embellishments on the front, and some black and white ribbon, then left it at that. This is going in my purse remember, so I don't want too much frou-frou that can come off. For the inside covers, I used a lovely black and white paper from Folia.

And there you have it – from .23 centimes in the sale bin, to a one of a kind vintage original!