Gift idea: round note pad with a 3D Flower

A little gift idea that is hopefully something out of the ordinary
that you can make (with supplies you already have)
for someone on your gift giving list, any time of the year:



A round note pad with a 3D flower.

But the part I like best about it is that it's sized to fit
inside an antique silver pedestal dish:


The dish has a 5 inch width or diameter so the note pad
is about 4 inches in diameter.

You can find all kinds of little dishes at secondhand shops
(made of silver plate or glass or any other materials)
and create your own note pads to fit them.

The flower is sturdy since it's made of140lb watercolour paper:



And the notebook covers are made of doubled-up watercolour paper
circles -- which makes for a nice sturdy material
(like chipboard only far easier to cut with a circle cutter).

The covers are hinged on ribbon so it's flexible for opening & closing:



The inside pages are cut from copy paper (acid-free but so affordable)
They are tied in with thin satin ribbon, so the note pad is refillable.
(Giving extra pages along with it will mean it can be a keepsake).

...make a round note pad
(in a silver dish):

• 140 lb watercolour paper or thick cardstock
• digital patterned paper (or regular patterned paper)
• copy paper & a circle cutter
  
• seam binding ribbon, hole punch
  
• paper piercer needle & thread
• a 3D flower. This one was made with...
• ...watercolour paper, IO damask stamp...
  
• ...clear embossing powder, heat gun, & distress inks
  

Here are all the pieces used to make this round note pad:

Large flower to decorate the cover
Front cover: numbered 1 & 2 in the photo above.
Back cover: numbered 3 & 4
Inside pages: numbered 5



Step 1a) Make the front & back covers

1a) Make the front cover:

A) Cut & paste a snippet of a digital pattern big enough for two circles or use patterned paper. (I used this good morning digital kit and recoloured it green.)
B) Print onto 140 watercolour paper for texture & heft.
C) Cut out the circles.
D) Add stitching, if you like, hiding the ends on the back.

E) Add some seam-binding ribbon to the back of one of the 2 front cover pieces



Step 1b) Make the back cover pieces:

A) Print a solid colour onto watercolour paper.
B) Cut circles & punch holes for tying in the note pad pages.
C) Pierce & stitch around the circles, if you like.

To assemble, make a ribbon hinge...



...sandwiched between the double cover pieces.



Step 2) Sandwich the two front cover pieces around two pieces of seam-binding ribbon. Add double-sided tape to one side of the seam-binding that sticks out.



Step 3) Remove the backing of the doublesided tape. Pull the ribbon down to make a V shape with it & hold it with your thumb. (Note if the ribbon is too tight the cover won't open so leave a little room for play).



Step 4) Take those back cover pieces (above) ... and...



Lay the sticky ribbon piece onto the inside of the back piece & affix the double-sided tape.
Lift it up to add rest of back cover.



Step 5) press the second part of the back cover on



Step 6a) Make the pages. Cut pages slightly smaller than the covers & punch holes in the tops of them (to line up with the holes in the back cover).



Step 6b) Tie the pages in with ribbon (so it's a refillable note pad).



Step 7) Make a 3D flower to top it all off!

to make the flower:

A)Cut a piece of watercolour paper to fit the printer: 8.5" x 11" for a standard printer.
B) Print different sizes of a flower shape onto the watercolour paper.
C) On the back of the printed flowers, stamp Impression Obsession Damask Cover a Card background stamp in clear Versamark ink.
D) Sprinkle clear detail embossing powder onto wet ink & heat it with heat gun.
E) Cut out the flower shapes (using the printed flowers as a guide) I made mine just a teensy bit less pointy to get a more rounded look).
F) For a resist embossing look, cover the embossed cardstock with distress inks & water.
G) While the flowers are still damp, shape them with your hands.
H) Stick the flowers together with a good strong glue.
I) To make a center: cut a long strip of watercolour paper; colour it grey with markers or paint; cut a fringe into it & roll it into a spiral; fluff the fringe with your fingers & glue the center into the flower.

Finally, fit the notepad into a silver dish, or what have you...

...and there you have it...

a round note pad with a 3D flower to give to someone special,
or to use to organize yourself in style. ;o)

Here's a one page reference guide:

or You can
Download the one page
reference PDF here

about the supplies

The flower was made with this digital Layers flower template:

from A Day For Daisies
&
this Damask IO background stamp:

&
the paper was printed with this Good Morning digi kit

by Shelly Castillo - from Two Peas in a Bucket

recolouring patterns &
making matching solid papers

You can re-tint your papers to change them to any colour
(how to do that in Photoshop here)

And you can make your own solid coloured paper to match your re-tinted digital patterned paper, by pulling a colour from that pattern with the eyedropper tool in Photoshop & filling a new document or a section with that colour. Then you can print it out & make something nifty.



Hope your week is shaping up to be a lovely one!