Cute, easy DIY notebooks you can make in about five minutes.
I’ve been making small DIY notebooks for years. They’ve filled my home with handy places to jot down notes, sketch ideas, and keep prompts for journaling. Yet no matter how many I make (or buy), I still seem to never have the perfect notebook when I need one. So I made another batch to tuck around the house and the studio — this time using decorative wallpaper samples to make the covers feel extra special.
Below are two simple methods: one for making notebooks from scratch and another for quickly recovering an existing notebook. Both are fast, tidy, and require only a few materials.
DIY Notebooks — Two Simple Methods
Materials
- Decorative wallpaper samples or sturdy wrapping paper
- Scissors
- Scrap paper for the insides (lined, blank, or mixed)
- Long-reach stapler (needed to staple along the center fold)
- Bone folder or something to make crisp creases
I used wallpaper samples from a recent project, but leftover gift wrap or any thick patterned paper will work well for covers.
Method 1: Make Notebooks from Scratch
This approach is similar to older library-card-style notebook tutorials, but adapted for thicker cover materials like wallpaper. The whole process takes only a few minutes.
1. Cut and fold the inner pages.
Trim 8–12 sheets of scrap paper to the size you want, then fold them in half to form the notebook. Use a bone folder to press a crisp crease. You can mix lined, grid, and plain pages to suit your needs.
Sizing tips:
- For the square example shown, cut ten sheets to 7 inches by 3.5 inches. Folded, this yields a 3.5 x 3.5 inch notebook with about 20 pages.
- The green-and-black striped example is finished at about 4.5 x 5.5 inches; the inner bundle started at 9 x 5.5 inches before folding.
2. Trace the cover on wallpaper and cut.
Unfold the stacked inner sheets and trace their outline onto your wallpaper or wrapping paper. Cut the wallpaper slightly larger than the folded paper so the cover wraps cleanly around the pages.
3. Attach the cover.
Wrap the wallpaper around the folded inner pages and glue the cover to the top sheet(s) where needed, lining everything up before the adhesive sets. This extra glue step adds support to the cover but is optional if your wallpaper is thick enough on its own. Re-fold and crease with the bone folder for a neat finish.
4. Staple the spine.
Use a long-reach stapler to place two or three staples along the center fold. A standard stapler usually can’t reach far enough into the center to staple vertically, so the long-reach style is important unless you’re making a very small notebook.
And that’s it — a finished handmade notebook in under five minutes.
Method 2: Recover an Existing Notebook
If you want the fastest route, recover an existing notebook instead of building one from scratch. This saves cutting and stapling and gives a quick, polished update.
For standard non-adhesive wallpaper:
- Trim the wallpaper to the size of the notebook plus a 2–3 inch overhang on all sides.
- Glue the wallpaper to the notebook cover, starting at the spine and wrapping the paper around to the front and back.
- Trim excess material at the top and bottom of the spine and fold the remaining flaps neatly over the cover edges.
For peel-and-stick wallpaper (even easier):
- Cut the peel-and-stick wallpaper to size, remove the backing, and align the notebook spine to the center of the sheet.
- Smooth the front and back covers onto the sticky surface, then trim and fold the edges neatly.
Peel-and-stick materials are ideal when you want a very quick refresh with minimal drying time and no glue.
Quick Instructions Recap
- Cut inner pages to size and fold; press the fold with a bone folder.
- Trace and cut the cover from wallpaper or wrapping paper.
- Glue the cover to the folded pages if extra support is desired, then crease again.
- Staple along the center fold with a long-reach stapler.
- Or recover an existing notebook by trimming, adhering, and folding the cover material around it.
These small notebooks are practical and make lovely gifts, party favors, or desk accessories. Using different paper types and cover patterns means you can create a whole set of unique notebooks in very little time.
Photography and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff
What do you think of these little notebooks? Do you, like me, have a collection of tiny notebooks stashed everywhere? Try this quick project and you’ll have an easy supply of pretty, usable notebooks in no time.