Create a personalized notebook, draw your favorite cartoon character on it (or some flowers, stars, whatever are your favorite things), add a beautiful spine, some airbags to protect it and put a box inside where to keep your memories and secrets (photos, drawings and little presents).

Materials:

• A notebook
• Liquid glue
• Old newspapers
• Brushes
• Tissue paper
• White Cardboard
• Paint colors
• Small lock and key

First of all we need to create the fake spine of the notebook, so that it will look just like a real book.

1. Draw the shape of the spine on the cardboard and cut it
2. Now, take some liquid glue and mix it with some water in a glass or a small bowl (50% water and 50% glue)
3. With a clean brush, use the mix of glue and water to stick some small pieces of newspaper on the spine, cover it all and make a few layers
4. Let it dry
5. Now paint it with the colors you want

Let’s decorate the notebook

1. Cover the notebook with tissue paper and stick it with some glue
2. Draw the mouth and the eyes of your character on the cardboard
3. Cut them and stick them to the front of handbook
4. Use some paints or marker to color the character
5. Stick the spine of the book we made before on the spine of the notebook.

Create some airbags for the notebook, so that it won’t get damaged if it falls on the floor

1. Cut two triangles from the cardboard
2. Make them thicker by sticking some pieces of newspaper around
3. Then cover them all with tissue paper, make them as thick as possible and then use some glue to fix it all together
4. Now you can paint them if you want and finally stick them to the front cover of the notebook.

Now it’s time to decorate the inside of the notebook with the box of memories and a label with your name and information written on it

1. Take some pieces of cardboard and prepare a little box 
2. Paint it and when it’s dry write something on it (such as ‘Memories’)
3. Stick it to the back cover of the notebook
4. Cut a rectangular from the cardboard or take a piece of paper
5. Write on it your name (and some other information if you want) and stick it on the front cover

Finally we need to create the hooks to put the locker in

1. In the same way we did the airbags, draw two hooks on the cardboard and cut them
2. Use some newspaper to reinforce them, and cover them with tissue paper
3.  Stick them on the side of the notebook
4. Now you can close it with a lock
5. Keep the key in a safe place!

This post first appeared here on May 15, 2013.