Creating with Discarded Vintage Books

Vintage books contain wonderful images. I attempt to salvage them by creating one of a kind notebooks, notepads and journals so that these priceless images will not be lost forever. I always use books that are in poor condition. Good vintage books and collector's editions should always be kept intact for future generations. Here's an example of a small notepad created using the pages of a vintage Alice in Wonderland book.

A nice addition to these notebooks is the use of entire pages from the original books randomly inserted between blank pages. They may be more images or interesting quotes from the story line.

Recycled Playing Cards

One of my latest finds in my thrift store excursions was a deck of Coca-Cola playing cards, used but still in perfect condition. I put them to good use by repurposing them into cute retro notepads. This first example is meant to be used as a keyring - never be without paper in your purse again! There are also lots of other uses. Hang it by your phone with phone numbers..... Or on the kid's backpack.... Or anywhere you need information fast. I have one hanging on my desk with my website passwords!


The next is a notepad bound with Rollabind disks. A perfect little pad to carry with you anywhere. The nice thing about both these items is more paper can be added at any time. Never discard the covers - only the used paper sheets inside!



For more information on making recycled notepads, visit my Squido lens, Re-Creative Crafting.

Recycled Postcard Notepad

Just though I'd share with you another of my recycled items. The cover of this notepad is made from a recycled postcard mounted on chipboard. I used 24lb 50% recycled paper for the pages.

Altered Postcard Notepad

A while back I was working on altered vintage postcards. I was toying with the idea of making some mini notebooks or journals when it dawned on me I still had a bunch of my postcards. Why not use them for the covers of my journals? Well, here's the result:

The cover is from a computer generated copy of my original altered postcard. It is laminated for protection and mounted on chipboard. The back cover is also chipboard. The binding eyelets allow the book to be folded back on itself for easy writing. The notebook measures approximately 3 1/2" X 5 1/2" and contains 35 pages of parchment paper. I'm really pleased with the way this came out and will surely be using some more of my previous projects for more journals.