The Art of Notebook Decorating

I’ve filled about 50 journals since high school. I usually talk about technology and writing now, but back then, I burned through the pages talking about my other obsessions: anime and manga.

The absolute highlight of keeping these notebooks was decorating their covers. Every time I started a new notebook, I got to pay homage to my favorite series or character of the moment. I loved unveiling my latest creation to my friends.

Although the combination of anime burnout and lots of homework killed my urge to decorate in college, the desire recently reawakened. I looked at my new bare notebook and hated it. In no time, I had covered the notebook with collages of Sailor Moon.

In celebration of my comeback, I thought it would be fun to share my notebook decorating process. There are seven main steps (though steps 6 and 7 are optional):

• Step 1: Gather Your Supplies
• Step 2: Organize Your Pictures
• Step 3: Do a Practice Run
• Step 4: Apply the Glue
• Step 5: Apply the Tape
• Step 6: Clean Up the Inside cover
• Step 7: Add a Pocket

Follow along if you’re ready to decorate your own notebook.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Decorating a notebook is a full-on art project. You’ll need a lot of stuff to get the job done.

Supply List

Here are the items you’ll need:

• Composition notebook (no plastic/flexible covers)

• Scissors

• Gluesticks (at least 4)

• Liquid glue (ex. rubber cement or white Elmer’s glue in the bottle)

• Packaging tape

• Invisible tape/Scotch tape

• Construction paper

• Printer paper

• Cardboard (8.5″ x 11″)

• Posterboard (8.5″ x 11″)

• Razor blade/X-Acto knife

• Ruler

• Dark crayon

• Dark colored pencil

• Dark permanent marker

Your decoration choices will determine the items you’ll need. For instance, you won’t need the ruler, razor blade, posterboard, or invisible tape if you don’t plan to add a pocket to your notebook.

Step 2: Organize Your Pictures

Now you’ll decide what kind of pictures you want to use and how you want to arrange them on your notebook’s covers.

To that end, you’ll choose a theme and pick a layout.

Choose a Theme

First, you need to choose a theme for your notebook. This will help you narrow down the kind of pictures to look for.

Think about something you like: cars, comic books, music, space, fashion, etc. That topic is your theme. You can adjust how specific you want to get within your theme later.

Next, find as many pictures as you can from your theme. Possible picture sources include magazines, the internet, personal photos, or even your own artwork. You never know what might come in handy.

As I’ve said, anime and manga are always the themes for my notebooks. For my new notebook, I highlighted one series, Sailor Moon, my very first anime.

To find pictures, I browsed through old issues of defunct anime magazines like Animerica, Anime Insider, and Newtype USA, cutting out anything with Sailor Moon on it.

I chose to stay general with my theme by finding pictures of Sailor Moon on the whole. To get more specific, I could have chosen pictures of one character (Sailor Mars, my favorite Sailor Senshi) or focused on only Usagi and Mamoru together.

Pick a Layout

Once you know your theme, you can pick a layout for your notebook’s covers.

There are four picture layouts to choose from:

• Full-Page Pictures

• Collages

• Large Pictures

• Mix-and-Match

Full-Page Pictures

A full-page picture fills the notebook’s entire front or back cover. It’s usually the size of a sheet of paper, like a wallpaper or a page from a magazine.

Full-page pictures are quick and easy to use. All you have to do is glue the picture down, fix the excess paper, and tape it up. Done.

The stakes for using a full-page picture are high, though. The slightest glue and tape mistakes immediately stand out. Worse, you’ll probably destroy the picture if you have to redo the cover.

Collages

You can also make a collage. With a collage, you’ll overlap numerous pictures of different sizes and shapes across the cover(s).

Most of my notebooks are collages. They’re fun to make and look impressive. Best of all, the layered arrangement allows you to cover up minor flaws or swap out damaged pictures down the line.

On the downside, collages require serious effort. They’re like jigsaw puzzles—you have to figure out how to fit the pieces together in just the right way. Plus, it takes a long time to glue the many pictures to the cover.

Large Pictures

Your third option is to use a large picture. A large picture only fills part of the cover. You fill the rest of the space with construction paper and decorations like smaller pictures, borders, and stickers.

Large pictures themselves are easy to work with. The headache comes from figuring out what extras you want to add. It’s a delicate balance. You want to accentuate the main picture, not overpower it.

Mix-and-Match

Lastly, it’s possible to use two layout options together. For example, you can put a full-page picture on the front cover and a collage on the back.

I’m not a big fan of the mix-and-match approach. It can look nice, but I prefer sticking to one layout style for both covers for consistency’s sake. I only mix-and-match when I’m running low on pictures or time.

Step 3: Do a Practice Run

Before you glue, you need to make sure your notebook and picture(s) are ready. Believe me, it will prevent many issues later.

During the practice run you’ll perform the following tasks:

• Test the layout

• Check for show-through problems

• Make a gluing guide

Test the Layout

For starters, I suggest arranging the picture(s) on your notebook without gluing them. Move things around. Experiment. See if everything looks good.

The practice run is especially important if you’re making a collage. You need to see how the pictures overlap, which teaches you the best order in which to glue them.

Check for Show-Through Problems

During the practice run you should also check for something I jokingly call “show-through.”

Show-through happens when the graphics on the back of the picture or the designs on the front of the notebook show through the picture. It’s a common problem with pictures that have light backgrounds.

Show-through is easy to fix. If you’re only having problems with one or two pictures, you can color the backs of those pictures with a dark crayon or colored pencil to mask the graphics.

If the notebook’s designs are showing through many pictures, however, it’s more efficient to color the whole cover with a dark permanent marker.

Make a Gluing Guide

When you’re satisfied with your layout, the last step is to take a picture of it. This will be your gluing guide.

The gluing guide reminds you of your cover’s arrangement if you’re using a large picture or making a collage. You won’t remember the exact position of the pictures after you take them off and start gluing.

Step 4: Apply the Glue

Okay, it’s finally time to put your picture(s) on the notebook.

The necessary directions vary depending on your picture layout:

• Large pictures require Steps 4A, 4B, and 4C.

• Full-page pictures require Steps 4A and 4B.

• Collages require only Step 4C.

Step 4A: Glue the Picture/Paper (Full-Page & Large)

The first thing you do for a full-page picture or a large picture is glue down the picture or construction paper respectively.

Here are the steps:

1. Remove all pictures and other decorations from the cover.

2. Put a scrap sheet of paper between the notebook’s inside cover and its first page to protect the pages from the glue.

3. Apply a light coat of glue directly to the cover—gluestick for the picture, liquid glue for the construction paper.

4. Spread the glue with your finger to equally distribute it over the cover. Remove any hunks or excess glue.

5. Position the picture/paper so it lines up with the edge of the notebook’s binding. There should be about an inch of free paper (or “end flap”) at the top and bottom of the cover.

6. Lay the picture/paper on the glue.

7. Smooth your hands over the picture/paper to make sure it sticks to the cover.

8. Put a piece of cardboard and a heavy book on top of the notebook for 10 minutes to flatten bubbles and wrinkles.

Step 4B: Fix the Excess Paper (Full-Page & Large)

After you glue down the picture/paper, you have to deal with the excess paper sticking out from the notebook’s sides.

Follow this process:

1. Fold the end flaps against the notebook’s inside cover.

2. Glue the large vertical flap to the inside cover.

3. Cut down the side of the bottom end flap.

4. Cut across the fold created by the previous cut to remove the extra paper strip from the flap.

5. Refold the bottom end flap and glue it to the inside cover.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for the top end flap.

Step 4C: Glue the Picture(s) (Collage & Large)

Gluing the pictures is a straightforward process. Don’t forget to keep your gluing guide handy.

Do this:

1. Place the picture face down on a scrap sheet of paper and apply glue to its back. Smooth or remove any glue hunks to prevent lumps.

2. Stick the picture to the cover.

3. Repeat steps 1-2 as necessary. Wash your hands often.

4. Put a piece of cardboard and a heavy book on top of the notebook for 10 minutes to eliminate bubbles and wrinkles.

5. Rub a slightly damp napkin over the picture(s) to remove traces of glue (for non-printed pictures only).

6. Apply stickers and other embellishments to the cover.

Step 5: Apply the Tape

The final step is to seal the covers with packaging tape. Tape protects the pictures from weather and wear-and-tear. Depending on your tape’s width, it takes 3-5 strips per cover.

There are three parts to the taping process:

• Step 5A covers the first few strips of tape.

• Step 5B covers the tricky final tape strip.

• Step 5C tells you how to set the tape.

Step 5A: Apply the Initial Strips of Tape

Get your packaging tape and scissors ready.

Let’s start:

1. Cut a strip of tape about 11 inches long.

2. Position the strip of tape so that it lines up with the edge of the notebook’s binding. There should be about an inch of free tape (or “end flap”) at the top and bottom of the cover.

3. Lower the strip to the cover and smooth it down.

4. Fold down the end flaps against the inside cover.

5. Repeat Steps 1-4 to apply the other pieces of tape. Make sure to slightly overlap the new piece’s edge with that of the previous one to prevent gaps.

Step 5B: Apply the Final Strip

The final tape strip’s proximity to the cover’s edge means there are a few extra steps to applying it. In fact, the process is similar to folding the picture/paper in Step 4B.

Here’s how you handle it:

1. Apply the final strip of tape as usual but don’t fold any of the end flaps.

2. Fold down the large vertical tape flap against the inside cover. Fold the tape against itself across the end flaps as well.

3. Fold the end flaps down against the inside cover. Parts of them won’t stick because of the previous folds.

4. Cut two strips of tape half an inch long.

5. Put the new strips of tape over the end flaps to make them stick to the inside cover.

Step 5C: Set the Tape

When you finish applying the tape, the picture(s) will look dull. This is normal. You have to set the tape.

To make your picture(s) sparkle, rub the handle of a pair of scissors (or a similarly smooth-edged item) over the cover. It will take several passes to catch every inch.

Don’t press too hard while you work, or you’ll leave dents or streaks.

Step 6: Clean Up the Inside Cover

Most composition notebooks have class schedule charts and multiplication tables printed on their inside covers. Combine that stuff with the jagged pieces of tape and strips of paper you added…yeah, it looks kinda bad in there.

Good news: you can conceal the mess with construction or printer paper. There are two different ways to do this.

Inside Cover Directions

Open the notebook and lay it flat on the table.

Now follow these steps:

1. Color the inside cover with a dark crayon to prevent show-through problems.

2. Apply glue directly to the inside cover—gluestick for printer paper, liquid glue for construction paper.

3. Spread the glue over the inside cover with your finger to equally distribute it. Remove any hunks or excess glue.

4. Place the paper over the glue. Smooth your hands over it to make sure it sticks properly.

5. Put a piece of cardboard and a heavy book on top of the inside cover for 10 minutes.

6. Cut around the notebook’s edges to remove the excess paper from the cover.

Alternative Inside Cover Directions

Another way to revamp the inside cover is to cut the piece of paper beforehand. This route eliminates the possibility of nicking the tape on the notebook’s edges when you cut around the paper.

The directions are basically the same as before. After you do the show-through fix, cut a piece of paper about 9 inches tall and 7 inches wide and glue it to the inside cover. The piece should fit perfectly along the paper flaps.

Step 7: Add a Pocket

Another extra I often add to my notebooks is a pocket. Without one, I’m guaranteed to lose my loose-leaf papers, notes, and pictures.

You can make a pocket out of practically anything. I usually make my pockets from durable paper like posterboard, but I’ve also made them from envelopes, freezer bags, and plastic dividers.

Pocket Directions

All right, grab whatever material you chose for your pocket.

This is what you do next:

1. Cut the paper (or other material) down to a square measuring about 6 inches wide and 5 inches tall.

2. Position the pocket on the inside cover so that there’s roughly half an inch of space on both sides and on the bottom.

3. Apply strips of invisible tape to secure the sides and bottom of the pocket to the inside cover.

4. Cut a slit across the pocket’s top corners to open it up.

For my new notebook, I made my pocket by gluing a large picture onto a thick piece of paper and cutting it down to size. Then I followed the rest of the aforementioned directions.

Conclusion

Decorating a notebook can be exhausting, but the resulting satisfaction makes the work well worth it.

I love how colorful my new notebook turned out. It feels more me. I find myself wanting to write in it more, which is a good thing for one of my latest resolutions.

Have fun decorating your own notebook, and let me know if you have any questions.