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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

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Time: 1h00

diary, notebook, felt, embellishment
A way to personalise your 2010 diary, or make a personalised christmas gift for someone!

Posted by Ria S. from Hinckley, England, United Kingdom • Published 22nd November 2009 • See Ria S.'s 10 projects »

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Kinhime Dragon favorited Felt Covered Diary With Aperture 17 Nov 20:50
Conner W. added Felt Covered Diary With Aperture to book crafts 16 Jul 20:37
selly.f.hing added Felt Covered Diary With Aperture to felt cover diary 19 Aug 16:26
Miss_Fit added Felt Covered Diary With Aperture to Covers 29 Mar 13:36
Krys R. added Felt Covered Diary With Aperture to stuff I wanna try 15 Sep 20:17

Step 1
You will need: A5 Diary, piece of A4 felt, a motif or embelishment, small piece of acetate, A5 coloured backing paper or card, glue, scissors, metal ruler and a craft knife. I also added peel-off numbers and a charm but these aren't essential.
Step 2
Mark out a square on the front of the diary big eough to fit your chosen embelishment (I have put backing paper on the front only because the lines didn't show up on the photo when drawn on the black diary - you dont need this)
Step 3
Using the craft knife and your metal ruler cut out the square on a cutting board to make an aperture.
Step 4
Place your backing paper on the inside of the diary so you can see it through the aperture. I also covered this with a piece of white card so that the inside cover of the diary looked neat. Stick your embelishment onto this so it is recessed inside the aperture.
Step 5
This step is difficult to see in the photo, but I have cut a piece of acetate about 1cm bigger than the aperture and stuck it over the hole to protect the embellishment. So you now have a 'window' (Make sure you wipe any finger prints etc off the acetate and blow any fluff out of the aperture before sticking on the acetate as they are very visible once it is stuck on.)
Step 6
Using the square you cut from the diary as a template, cut a hole in the felt at exactly the same measurements as those on the front of your diary.
Step 7
Apply fabric glue (I used copydex) to the diary front and allow it to become tacky before sticking the felt. This is important because if you put the felt straight onto the wet glue it soaks through the felt and your hard work will be ruined. (So speaks the voice of experience, this was originally going to be covered in leopard print felt!!)
Step 8
Press the felt firmly onto the diary, but be gentle, as felt stretches very easily and you can end up with the aperture being pulled out of shape. Press into the curves of the spine of the diary, turn the diary over and apply glue to the back, then once tacky press the felt onto the back of the diary too. (Don't forget to apply glue to the spine of the book or it will look 'baggy' when you open it)
Step 9
Once dry, trim off any excess felt that is overhanging.
Step 10
Then I added peel-off numbers for the date and pimped the marker ribbon with a cute flower charm.
Step 11
I have also created covered note books using the same principles - These are A6 sized pocket note books bought for 50p each! The red and black one had a small peiece of black felt and no aperture and the red and grey one had a tiny heart charm aperture and grey felt on the front only, with a ric-rac ribbon border