Mini BOO Book

Recently saw a video on YouTube by Crafting with Paula showing her Tiny Notebooks she made using index cards from the Dollar Tree and her mini Cinch machine. I own the full size Heidi Swapp Cinch machine so I thought I would give these mini notebooks a try. . . But for my notebooks I also used the cutting mats from the Dollar Tree for both the front and back covers. Here is a photo of the index cards I picked up at the Dollar Tree by Jot:

As she explains in her how-to video Paula cuts these index cards in half - so you would have cards that measure 3x4. To start my notebook I cut the whole package of the index cards in half for my 3x4 pieces. Then I cut my cutting mat also to a 3x4 size cutting two pieces - one for the front cover and one for the back. Here is a photo of the cutting mat packaging from the Dollar Tree:

These cutting mats come in a package of 2 so you can get a lot of covers out of the one package that they sell for $1.25 now. With the index cards cut and the cover pieces cut I counted out four sets of  9 index cards -- 3x4. I decided I wanted to have pocket pages dividing up the index cards in my notebook and she suggests 40 pieces in her notebook so with my 9 index cards and one pocket card in my sets that would equal the 40 pages. Here is photo of the Mini BOO Book I made:

For all the Halloween prints I used for my notebook I used double sided papers from 6x6 card stock pads I already have in my stash. Here is a photo without the cutting mat cover to show the glittered black card stock used for the witch --

For the "Oct 31" ticket I used my date stamp and a mini ticket die set from MFT Stamps. The Witch die is by Anna Wight for Impression Obsession (IOStamps). All washi tapes are from the stash and I tore pieces of those for the cover and used liquid glue to add those to the cover. First page:

The dotted card stock is the back of the front cover and I have a printed paper with washi tape as the first page to the notebook followed by the cut index cards:

Here are the three pocket pages I made to separate the index card page groups -- each pocket page has a scrap piece of card stock to show how the pockets open but they are not decorated or holding anything yet:

The inside of the back cover:

The outside back cover:

and with the cutting mat piece over it:

Used the Cinch and black wire for the spiral for my mini notebook. Tied some sparkled tulle on the spiral coil and made a charm dangle for the front of the notebook:

To make this - 

4 x 6 index cards cut in half so your index cards are 3x4

Cutting mat - cut 2 pieces 3x4 for front and back covers

For front/back covers - I cut scrap cardboard (card stock pad backing) for 2 pieces - 3x4

Printed card stock for front and back covers - 2 pieces 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 (I used liquid glue)

To make covers lay your cardboard pieces on backsides of your front and back covers and use liquid glue to adhere. Trim corners off and fold printed card stock to backside of cardboard piece - again using liquid glue to adhere. For the inside cover piece to cover this I cut two printed card stocks for both front cover and back cover - these pieces were cut to 2 7/8 x 3 3/78. This photo shows this inside cover piece on my back cover - 

The dotted piece with the black cat on it is the liner to the back cover and you can see there is very little of the inside back cover that shows using that printed card stock for the inside of the cover.

This is an easy mini notebook to put together using the tips from Paula in her video. A big thanks for her sharing her idea and how-to's for this project! These mini notebooks will be good to make for Thanksgiving and Christmas and perfect to toss in a purse to jot down a list or project ideas, etc.. The Cinch machine is very easy to use and my only suggestion would be to use scrap pieces to punch out your holes for the spiral first so you are happy with the placement of the holes on your project. Easy machine to work and having the regular size machine I can make these mini notebooks or larger journals if I need to.