I have always been overwhelmed when it comes to altering any item, but I am recently finding out that actually it is not as difficult as I first thought. 

Take notepads for example. I always see lots of lovely altered notepads in various online galleries and it looks like such a great deal of time has been spent making them beautiful. I unfortunately, like many people, do not have much time to spend unpicking the metal binding on the notepads, covering them and then painstakingly put them back together. I do not have any fancy gadgets such as the helpful Bind-It-All to assist me and honestly, I do not have the patience!

I have, however, discovered a cheater's method which means I can alter a notepad in less than  ten minutes!

It is so simple too.   Here is how I did it.

First I purchased a selection of various notepads from a cheap store. The notepads work best when they have a hard back and front to them, are bound with a metal spring binding and are a solid color, as  this makes them easier to cover.  You should be able to obtain books of all shapes and sizes. It is good to experiment with what works the best for you.

Root around your scraps of patterned paper (I know we all have lots of them) and find paper that matches the color of your plain notebooks. Make sure you have enough to cover the front and the back.  Simply measure the front of the notepad and cut a piece of paper approximately 1cm smaller on all sides.

I like to then ink the edge of the paper with a black chalk ink; this will help the paper blend into the background color of the notepad when finished.

Place a dry adhesive such as 3L's E-Z  tape runner on the back of one of your pieces of paper - make sure it reaches the edges so you will not have any loose corners --  then adhere this to the front of your notepad. Repeat this process on the back.

You may wish to simply leave the notepad like this, depending on what you want to use them for.  However, I like to make them look pretty.   I do this by stamping and coloring an image to match and adhering this to the bottom right corner of the notepad. You may wish to use some of your alphabet stickers to add a name or perhaps you have some embellishments which would look good.

Along the binding I like to tie some ribbon. This is a great way to use up odd bits of ribbon you have been saving for a reason, not knowing what that reason might be. You could thread some lace through or leave it plain.

These little notepads are quick and easy to make, result in a great last-minute gift and are brilliant for using up those pieces of scrap paper and ribbon you have lying around. Why not give it a go yourself?. You won't be disappointed.