This is exactly what I had my students us for their science notebooks! In the back, I had them put glue along the bottom and along the side of one page and then stick in to the page in front of it. That was their pocket for keeping up with unfinished work. We either worked in our notebooks or glued it in!!!!! They are great notebooks. I kept one also to use as a model for the students. Sometimes, I would tie 1/8" ribbons around my spine for decorations - not necessary - just pretty. Some followed suit and did the same thing. Oh, at times I would run a small bead of glue down the stitching, but usually that was all that was necessary to help our books make it through the school year. They used one per semester!!! I am rambling on like a mad woman, sorry! I just love composition books!!!!!

Superb job Geri! You are a joy to watch. Thank you very much. 🙏

Hi Ceri! When I was a teen, way back in the early 70s, I covered a composition book with material and decorated some of the inside to make a journal. I used it, too, and still have it tucked away in my grandmother's cedar chest. I was delighted when I saw you using one in this video. ☺ Hope yours endures as long as mine has! Have a wonderful rest of your week! Sue ♥

Your printing is absolutely stunning!

I love this! I stock up when I find these books for 50 cents. They help me keep my life organized. Can't wait to make decorative coverings.

Thank You so much Ceri for sharing your composition book craft ideas. I find it easier to watch videos like yours to help get ideas for my own creations.

Greetings from Chicago 🎉I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Great idea. So many possible uses. And a cute gift for back to school grandchildren.

Love this idea. Thank-you for showing when and how to use double sided tape.My nieces will be getting these for back to school in Sept..

Ceri, this is exactly what I wanted. Thank you.

I would suggest that, after your carpet tape is down, you can add a nice layer of the glue stick on top, which will slow down the immediate “stick” of the tape. There may be a slight warp to the paper, but I have found that using the scraper will smooth all that out as it dries, and it’s worth it for the wiggle room it affords. You can also add gaffer’s tape which comes in black to the spine if it’s not as straight or as wide or as strong as you would like, in case the sharpie trick doesn’t work. I don’t like the white strip on the inside covers so I color those in with black sharpie before I glue down the covers. I personally use xyron instead of double sided tape and use glue stick to manage the immediate stick down. I also cut my papers an inch too tall and wide and trim the paper to fit the cover to avoid having to line up the edges perfectly. I have taught myself to use the cover edge as a ruler, and trim paper to fit with my scalpel, as I find it easier than dealing with a ruler, too. As long as I go slowly, it works. Once the paper is on and smooth, I do 2 additional steps - I use an acrylic nail emery board or sanding block and smooth the paper into the covers, just at the edge. That’s not to distress but to make the paper become one with the covers. After that’s done and wiped off, I use fat black sharpie to edge the cover edges on all 3 sides - it makes the cardboard color turn black and I think makes the covers look more finished. Again, I go slowly and don’t press down hard so my pen doesn’t slip off the edge and mark the paper. Beautiful work u did, and TFS.

Love this!! Great idea for the IDEA Book 📕!

Beautiful idea! Thank you for your inspiration ❤️

Oh wow, your composition book came out so cool! I love it! Thank you for sharing! ❤

Perfect cover! Loved your tutorial.

Fabulous; simply fabulous!😊

Great idea for making that composition book your own...it turned out beautifully!! 💙📓

Well done Ceri! It looks fantastic!

What a wonderful idea! 😊

I hav used these notebooks just to do my morning journaling while drinking that first cup of coffee. I covered mine with pics from outdated calendars which made them look better but not as better as yours! You took yours to a whole new level-loved the colors & it made it look like a journal not a store bought composition book!

Another fantastic idea - great to see those pages put to use after you printed them. Love those colour combos.

Very nice. I use them every day to make notes lists etc. Now I have to personalize them!!

Thank you for showing step by step how to do the cover. Have a great day

Beautiful papers. Just subscribed so I don't miss any videos. Thank you for sharing.

Ceri, I so appreciate you, and the way you bring together both a creative and fastidious, or methodical approach. It makes your wonderfully informative videos so very distinctive. Many thanks, and cheers from Hawaii!

Thanks Ceri

A beautiful cover!

I have covered composition notebooks before, but liked seeing how you did it. I have also used gesso to cover the colorful covers, then decoupaged Tim Holtz collage tissue. When the tissue is totally dry, I remove the excess with sandpaper going down and away from the cover for a clean edge. Added a few washes of color for a fun cover.

Good idea Ceri. Thank you. BLESSINGS

Excellent presentation or a great idea.

Hi Ceri! Your tutorial has been a great inspiration for me as I'm making a journal for my daughter using one of these notebooks. Love all your ideas & projects...your notebook papers were just stunning. Thanks for another great tutorial...stay blessed my friend ❤️

Ceri, I've seen a few videos where the glue was applied only along the three edges of the page before gluing the two pages together. This way, you don't get the wrinkling and buckling. Like you said, though, if you're going to use it as a glue book, it doesn't really matter because you'd be covering the pages up with more paper or collage, etc. Love the way you decorated this one! TFS!

Really nice! I'm thinking this will be a great project for my kiddos school notebooks.

Beautiful😊

Ceri: nice job! Good looking, functional and was easy to make. Carol from California

Beautiful book Ceri - thank you!. Loved your idea of taking a black pen down the ribbon binding. Excellent. Very helpful, too, how you measured and cut your paper for covers.

i like this idea very much

That is a very nice book

I’m using a composition notebook for the Margarete Miller challenge. I only glue on one side of the notebook and haven’t glued any pages together. It’s holding up beautifully. This is my first leap into collage art. Also working on some index card collages. Love your channel.

Love the covers, Ceri. Gorgeous! These books are very handy. TFS. From Cheryl in AZ, USA

Pleased to see this, as I need a notebook, too. Wish the covers were as sturdy as they were when I was in school, but then the pages were fewer. I will pick one up at the local dollar star and alter it so the pages will be thicker and the cover prettier. Thanks, Ceri. 📕

Love this, ,. so happy you got to go to Target while in Chicago. My Favorite store!! I’m going to make one for my 11 year old grandson for school. They use these for all their classes. Gotta come up with a “cool” theme. 🤔🤔🤔

Love it 😍

Great! Thanks, Kathleen

Great idea, thank you!

Your journal is gorgeous! those papers!! You can also use essential oils to clean your scissors, bonus, they smell good!

Hi Ceri, nice job on your notebook. 👍🏻

I love composition books. I have made one (decorated) into my Christmas organizer where I put all the gift ideas and meal plans from year to year. Easy to go back and see what was bought and cooked the year(s) prior. I use one as my journal but did not decorate it, I have one with a pretty cover. I always have a few on hand just incase I need one for something. I think I will decorate the inside covers of my journal now. By the way I love your thick double sided tape, need to find some. As always thank you Ceri for you great tutorials and great craft sessions. :)

love watching you

If you worry about your metal ruler slipping, there is self-adhesive cork tape you can put on the bottom. The ruler will still slide when you want it to but when you push down on it, it will grab the surface well while you are cutting.

I used double sided tape only along the edges instead of something wet then press down the cover each time to get a clean flat page (works perfectly) also use the non-stick scissors when using adhesive

Ceri, great idea! I'm going to show my son and see if he could use one of these, but now a days everything is done electronically. He's in 7th grade and he has yet to bring home an actual school book! A few library books but no school book?!? Times are changing. TFS and no need to respond. Hugs from South Dakota.

Love what you do Ceri. Just a thought - you might consider adding an index/table of contents (as the bullet journallers often do) , so you have a way of finding an idea you know is in the book somewhere but is taking too long to find by flipping through the pages. I know it's prob too late to put in the front pages, as you have probably already started adding all your treasured ideas, but that's not a problem as I personally find it better to put my list starting from the back page as I'm never sure how many blank pages to leave for the list anyway. The list is written numerically backwards but that's never bothered me. It would also mean having to add page nos (at least on every second page, as you were talking about a two page spread for each idea) and you might decide that's all too much work and overkill. But it would make finding a particular idea easier.

Lovely tfs.

I really love this idea! I've just subscribed and found your channel because I watch Gail Agostinelli. I think I spelled that correctly☺️. I would really like to do this but I have to check out your gelli print videos first. Thanks so much for the great videos!

I like to use acrylic paint and paint the black cloth binding in a color to coordinate with the paper I use for the outside cover. Paint the binding and let it dry before gluing on the cover.

Hey Ceri! Those prints look awesome on your idea journals... I call them my Think Pads...😉 Great tutorial especially for a beginner. 49Dragonflies, Barbara, uses repurchased books as her daily journals and she found on the thinner paper that rather than use glue on the whole page she goes only around the edge so that it doesn't pucker up on her. Just another style. Thanks for another interesting video. I'm so glad I found you through Gayle!

Your paper looks lovely on the cover

Hi Ceri, for easier glueing you could just get a little bit of the glue-backing-paper off at the top and fold it back so that it sticks out at the side. You can then lay the paper over the still covered part of the glue strips at the bottom of the page to line it up.Then you lay it down so that it sticks to the upper part of the page. After that you hold the paper down on the still covered glue strips and gently pull at the backing paper parts that stick out at the side. This way you won't be in danger of having the paper stuck on wonky or bubbly or however "wrong". I hope my description makes any sense. Thank you for reminding me of the notebooks I have laying around still unused - I now have something I can use some of my hoarded 12"x12" paper for 🙂

Hallo Ceri, I love the idea. When people don't have a Geli plate you can also use 12x12 I think? When you did the front inside a say no, no ,no Ceri you forgot to take away the red tape cover. But I realized you can't hear me and you already made it.🤭 Well I think it do not matters your order tape is very sticky 😂

This would be an awesome cover for a science notebook\problem & solution manual.

I now always cover my comp books--they're sleazy to pretty up for sure 😎 I h=call them "Distractions" notebooks in order to capture all that stuff that needles my brain 🤓

Just to let UK viewers know, you can sometimes get Composition Books from TK Maxx. I got one (Made in India) recently from TK Maxx in Birmingham, for the clearance price of £1.49. 🙂

I will use this idea! I can get the notebooks at Dollar Tree Store. Thanks for sharing your ideas!❤️

I had to giggle when you got out the marker, 😂I’m a “recovering” OCB person I say recovering cause I work hard at things like Not grabbing the marker😂😂❤️❤️

Since you did this over a year ago, I would love to see how it has held up and if you are still using it. Love all your videos and watch some more than once.😊❤

Not sure you removed the top of the red tape on the inside before adhering paper but it won't matter. Loved the demo.

💜💜💜

Beautiful! Oops, the inside cover still has the red line tape covers on at 28:24. 😬

We get those composition books for a pound twenty five in Canada. I can’t believe they don’t have them in the UK.

I LOVE it!!! I would buy this on Amazon or Etsy!!! Did you paint the paper yourself or buy it as printed paper? I make these composition book journals all the time. Mostly for me... Sometimes as gifts.

Hi Ceri I am making an altered composition book with a Christmas theme. I want to use it as a journal so I want to add pockets etc. That is going to make it thick. What do you recommend? Should I remove every 3rd page or….? Should I glue pages together?

Do you do anything to the edges of the journals. Thank so much.

Love the front and back covers. Did you do those on the Gelli plate?

🤗❤️

Hello Ceri

I love these notebooks. I happened to get lucky and bought the last 3 (covered in denim) for 25 cents each. But I have been altering covers on these for many years. For myself and my grandkids. And I hate to say this but, I think you forgot to remove the top of the red tape on the inside front cover...at least I was still seeing red when you went to lay down your artwork. Hope I'm wrong. TFS

Try shopping at “Dollar Tree” the next time you come. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Ceri, sorry I haven’t been on lately. I miss you. I’ll have to catch up. Lol

I'm commenting another way to get sticky off scissors; not to be argumentative, just to offer a different solution to a sticky problem for people with sensitive skin of which I am one, and would like to hope I'm not the only one in the whole wide world. I'm allergic to alcohol. I use what I've always known as a window scraper. It is a single edge razor blade held in a metal track, usually with a plastic or wooden handle. Construction workers and painters use it to get paint splatters or wood glue splatters off window glass. I slide the window scraper along scissor blades, gently, forcing sticky to the point end of the scissor where I can just grab it off and stick it to the side of the trash bag.

Thankyou so much! I've done 2 watching you. Not a fan of 2 way tape,it's a dickens to get apart. Lol

I use yes! Paste and get no wrinkles.

You could actually just flip the excess tape around the edges over on itself instead of cutting it off.