Vintage Book Planner Tutorial

I desperately needed a day planner. With so much going on I can no longer keep it all straight in my head ’cuz something’s always falling through the cracks. So on my way home from the morning school drive today, I went to the office supply store to shop for one. Nothing bulky, nothing leathery, don’t need pockets, grid paper, address book or all the bells and whistles, just a plain ol’ planner, but a spiral one for sure, so it will lay flat while I’m planning. I chose a monthly planner that also has weekly pages. Perfect. Just what I wanted, but, in a word, boring. Right?Enter: A cute vintage book from my stash, one simple but pretty file folder and this simple tutorial!Find a cool vintage book close to the size and thickness of your planner and either a manila folder, decorative folder or heavy card stock.

With a craft knife, gut your book. I needed to cut the strings to remove the innards.Save the pages for your craft projects.Trim away any extra scrap along the inside of the book cover, but careful not to cut through the cover itself.
Turn the file folder inside out, and lay the book cover onto it with the fold of the folder lining up with the inside edge of the cover’s end paper and trace around the cover.Draw fold lines just inside the drawn book line.Cut the folder about 1″ outside the fold line.Trim away the fold creating two cards.Trim away the two corners just inside the fold lines.Use a ballpoint pen to press fold scores into the cards.Fold the flaps inward.
I chose to add packing tape along the non-folded edge for additional reinforcement. Run a strip along the edge and trim away excess.Using a strong adhesive on the folded flaps only, (I used E6000), glue to the inside covers with the open sides towards the book spine creating pockets.Place a piece of paper inside the pockets to keep any oozing glue from gluing the pockets shut.Place stacks of heavy books on top of the pockets as they dry.
Trim your planner if necessary to fit into the pockets.With book cover folded backwards, slide the covers of the planner inside the pockets.Once the planner is centered and in position, add a piece of double stick tape inside the pockets to keep it from shifting. This can be removed later for inserting next year’s planner.Start planning.FOR MORE EXAMPLES, CLICK HERE!