December Bloggerations Day 21 - Santa Stays Busy

Ho ho hello again, goodness, it's so busy here at the North Pole. We've not stopped since early September. There are letters coming in every day now, lots from bears living in a certain house, asking for gifts of chocolate and craft goods.

As well as bears. I need to make presents for other good bears and humans. If you need a gift for a friend (or bear) and don't have a lot of money available, here is a lovely, inexpensive idea.

Buy a notebook, preferably with a spiral binding.


Take off the front and back covers


Mark which is the front and which is the back, or you will end up beary confused when you come to re assemble the books.


Glue generously all over the front and back outer covers of the books.


Choose some patterned paper, place it pattern side down on your work space, and press your book cover down into the paper, smoothing over to ensure there are no bumps when finished.


Cut off all but one or two inches of excess paper. Fold the edges of the paper over to the inside covers, and glue into place, folding the corners in for a neat finish.


Poke the holes back into the book with a sharp implement, I used a sharpened pencil. Work from the outside in, then cut any excess paper carefully from around the holes.


Horace bought these ribbons at a bargain price from Papermaze, but you can use any ribbons you may have in your stash to decorate your books.


Ooh, I got carried away showing you our lovely bargain. Back to the book, re assemble the covers, making sure to add the back cover first, followed by the front.


You should now have a book with a decorated front and back, it doesn't matter if your patterns do not match exactly, I think it adds to the charm of the book if they don't.


Squeeze the binding tightly back together, so that the book does not spill its pages.


Decorate the books further, to your, or your intended recipients liking, with any craft stash you have. Pawsonalised books are always well received.


The books can cost as little or as much as you like, being a little paw at this time of year, mine were mostly made with stash I already had, in fact, the only things I bought specifically for this project were the books themselves, everything else came from the craft cupboard.

With love from the bears.