DIY Mini Note Book

This idea just came to me today while I was staring at my craft supplies hidden in the back corner of the storage room.  I knew that I wanted to do something this summer with the teens using Inkodye.  The stuff is so cool! The dye works with a lot of different materials and the color develops when exposed to the sun.  Who wouldn't want to play with this?!

I decided to make mini note books by upcycling some old cardboard cassette cases the library used to use.  I pulled out the small cassette box from the center which left a nice cover to work with.  The Inkodye website has a lot of project ideas to use.  For this project I decided to use the shadow effect.  

Chick Tags offers free tags on Fridays through Pinterest.  I used the one that says, "Insta Good Time" which can be found here. 

First I painted the front cover of my notebook using orange Inkodye.  It's important to do this inside away from windows so that the sun doesn't start to develop the ink before you are ready.

Place a tag or any objects on the painted cover and lay it out in the sun for 8 minutes (16 minutes if it is partly cloudy).  

Bring the cover indoors before removing any objects or tags.  Use a damp cloth and dish soapto  scrub the left over Inkodye from the cover and then set it aside.  Be sure to to scrub all over.  Any ink left on the project will develop the next time it is exposed to sunlight.

You can use any kind of paper, I chose to use some bright colors cut the pieces into 5 1/2" x 3 3/4" rectangles.  I cut paper until I had a stack that was 1/2" thick.  Next stack up the paper neatly and use a few binder clips to hold the stack in place.  Using Elmer's Glue and a paint brush apply a couple thick layers of glue to what will be the bound part of the paper.  Let the layers dry in between applications.  

Set aside to dry.

Cut two more pieces of paper slightly larger than the filler paper to cover the insides of the cover.  Use a glue stick so that the paper does not bubble.

Once the Filler paper is mostly dry use the Elmer's Glue and a paint brush to apply a layer of glue on the inside of the cover spine.  Lay your filler paper glue-side down onto the glue coated spine. Use a paper towel to wipe up excess glue.

Close the cover over the filler paper and use binder clips to hold in place.  Make sure your filler paper is pressed tightly against the spine before you clip it shut.  Set your project aside to dry and read a book.

Here's what the final product looks like.

Enjoy!