I Made a Notebook out of Junk Mail

Chloé Lepeltier -

I love notebooks and carry them everywhere with me. If I did not control myself, I would buy a new one each month.

The other day, as I was reorganizing my office, I found one that Octave and I had designed for our coworking space's opening party. We had made them from scratch, gathering the supplies and taking them to a neighboring creative space where we sew and screen printed them.

I've you've been reading me long enough, you know about my crusade against junk mail. But still, I do get some from time to time, and keep it in a box on my office shelf for a future use.

And this time has come. My urge to get a new notebook and the ever-growing junk mail pile have led me to make my own junk mail notebooks.

JUNK MAIL NOTEBOOK DIY

We all get junk mail, whether we like it or not! Although there are great ways to prevent receiving it, we sometimes still do. And that's OK. So let's make the most of it and get crafty.

Active time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min

Supplies

  • Junk Mail (or old documents after you've scanned them)
  • (optional) Thicker paper, or thin cardboard - for the cover (thick envelopes or cereal boxes)

Tools

Instructions

  • Collect junk mail and light cardboard.

  • Select 10 sheets of junk mail printed on one-side only.

  • Add 1 sheet of thicker paper at the bottom of the pile.

  • Cut the sheets in half (or just keep them as is for a larger format).

  • Collate 10 sheets together alternating between printed side up and printed side down in order to get 2 printed pages and 2 blank pages side by side once your notebook will be bound.

  • Fold them in half to create a crease.

  • Mark the crease with a pencil.
    This will help you sew on a straight line.

  • Sew the sheets together following the line.

  • Tie a knot at the top and bottom of the binding.

  • Trim the thread (not too close).

  • (optional) Trim the edges of the notebook. According to the thickness of your notebook, the inside pages might be longer than the cover page, so you can trim them a little get perfect edges.

  • Customize the front and back page.
    This is totally up to you. Have fun and personalize your creation.

Notes

You can make your notebook as big and as thick as you want. Just keep in mind that the more pages you'll add, the longer the inside pages extend outside of the cover.

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Do you know other creative ways to reuse junk mail?