DIY Notepad Party Favor

Hello, party planner people!!!

I just recently co-hosted a baby girl shower for a dear friend of mine, and was trying to find the most unique (yet thrifty) party favor.  So, OF COURSE, I turned to Pinterest.  Duh! :) Here is my Pinterest board for this shower if you want to browse through it. (http://www.pinterest.com/jessicaroseart/baby-cletus/)

I love going to showers and parties that have a theme. They are just so much fun, I think. Because the mother just happens to be a teacher like myself, I chose to do a Vintage School House theme.  I will post later on all the decorations, but I want to share with you the party favor that we did.

Once the theme was decided, we immediately thought of ordering personalized pencils to pass out as favors. The pencils say "Mrs. Wood is having a baby!", and we ordered them from the amazing Oriental Trading Co.

Then, I got to thinking.  What would go with a pencil that we could give as a set? A NOTEPAD!***Smack myself on the head.***

I get on Pinterest, and I find this DIY from Favor Craver. And I put it together with this tutorial from Paper & Stitch. I also found the vintage ABC cards from Rook No. 17. Then added my own flair (buttons).

Here is what you will need:

1. Handwriting Tablet and/or Graph Paper
2. Card Stock to print the covers
3. Scissors or a Paper Cutter
(Not Pictured)
4. Sewing Machine
5. Thread
6. Buttons

I arranged the ABC cards to print 3 covers on 1 sheet of card stock. (Feel free to use the arrangement I created here. Just right click on the image and choose "save as".)

Step 1: Print your covers.

Step 2: Using your scissors, X-Acto knife, or for the sake of your patience, a paper cutter, cut each cover to approximately 2.8 inches. **For the sake of time, I just cut one, and used it as a "width" template to cut the rest.  I marked it with a pencil and cut from there.**

Step 3: I used 4 sheets of the handwriting paper for each notepad. The height of the notepad (if using design from above) is 5.75 inches.  I cut the 4 sheets of handwriting paper to match.

Step 4: Using the cover as your "width" template, place cut marks.  The lines on the handwriting paper should be horizontal (awkward to write horizontal on vertical lines =). Try to fit as many sections to cut as you can.  I was able to squeeze in 3, meaning I had 3 sections of paper to put in the notepad.

Step 7: Cut the handwriting paper using the marks that you created as a guide.  These marks are there to make sure the paper will accurately fit into the cover.  Again, I used a paper cutter to spare my sanity!

Step 6: Fold your cover in half lengthwise and place your cut paper inside.

Step 7: Sew the top! I increased the width of the stitches (almost a basting stitch).  You need to backstitch at the beginning and at the end! GO SLOW! You are not in a stitch race! Super important that you do this! Also, I used a heavy duty needle that is made for sewing jeans.

Step 8: Trim the loose thread.

Step 9: Fire up the glue gun!! Buttons are going on! **Honestly, the reason I put the buttons on was because I was afraid the stitches were going to come out even though I backstitched.  AND I kinda messed up a few and I didn't want anyone to know... tee hee**

(Optional) Step 10: Attach a pencil/pen with washi tape.

And there you go! Fantastic little notepads!

Have fun my peeps!