Altered Composition Book

Making an altered composition book to give as a gift to those who love to journal, doodle or jot down a quick note is a fun, quick and extremely creative way to get your craft on. It's relatively inexpensive and can be heavily embellished or streamline and simple. The one pictured above is my most recent endeavor which I'm really excited to give to a dear friend of mine and I know she's going to love it!

The basic supplies are really simple to gather and if you don't already have them, you can get hooked up at your favorite craft store (hello Michael's!). You'll just need a composition book (totally stock up on these at Target during 'Back To School' sales - you can usually pick up two for $.99 which is a great bargain) and 4 sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper. You can use the 8.5x11 size sheets but I prefer the 12x12 because you have extra to use in embellishing. I used Mod Podge as my glue though you can use whatever you have on hand - just make sure it dries clear and give a strong bond.


Determine which papers you want to use where, measure the height and width of your book and make your cuts. It's pretty important to be exact here so don't assume that measurements for each front/back/inside covers will be the same and don't 'eyeball' it or you'll either come up short and be able to see the cover of the book or you'll find yourself doing a lot of trimming.

I use a corner cutter on one side of my paper to match up with the corners of the comp book. If you're going to embellish your pages with anything that will go through your paper or need to be taken around to the back of it (like brads or ribbon), it's best to do this before you adhere your paper to the book - you'll have a cleaner and smoother look to your finished product. Before adhering would also be the time to ink the edges of your paper if you're wanting to do that as well.

I've seen some of these notebooks where only the front and back outside covers have been altered which I really dislike. Your book will look so much better if you alter the inside covers as well plus doing so gives you more space to play! Get creative! Add ribbon, brads, initials, poetry...you can really do so much!


Inside front cover...



Inside back cover...



Back cover...



You can really personalize this for the one you're giving it to - and don't forget those cute mini composition books too! They're great to use for all of the left over scraps you have from your larger book and they make perfect stocking stuffers too!