House Binders

Hello there!  I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things as far as craft and home projects go.   My Italian vacation sidelined any projects for awhile - between prepping for my trip, being away on my trip, dealing with jet-lag after returning, and getting ready for Halloween, it's taking me awhile to get back into it all.  My DIY mojo is slowly returning, though!  One thing that doesn't help is that we were still having summer-like weather here in Southern California - earlier this week it was 90+ degrees, but today it rained to dropped down to about 60 degrees.  I'm SO READY for the fall weather!

Today, I have a project I had been meaning to do for quite some time.  I have a few binders in the house to keep some papers organized:  #1)  recipes, #2) house stuff (helpful tips, maintenance help, garden tips, etc), #3) an idea book (projects that I want to try out).  I subscribe to a few magazines and even with my love for Pinterest, I still manage to dog-ear pages of the magazines that hold my interest.  Once I'm done reading the magazine, I go back to the dog-eared pages and tear them out.  I then file them in page protectors in the appropriate binder.  I find it's a good system for me, so I'm sticking with it, at least for now.

This is what I started with.

I really wanted cute binders, but that usually means more dollar$$$$$.   So, I had the idea in my head for awhile to cover the binders in fabric or maybe some nice, thick wrapping paper.  I never really found a fabric or paper that I really liked for a good price, so I decided to use painter's dropcloth like my bff did (as you can see on her Neutral Territory's post).  I already had leftovers, so I didn't have to spend a dime and the dropcloth really goes with anything.  I figured that I can always jazz it up with ribbon and tags, also.

Here's a quick tutorial on how I did it.
Supplies needed:
*  Spray adhesive
*  Painter's dropcloth (mine was from Home Depot)
*  Scrapbook paper
*  Plastic page protectors
*  Label maker

1)  Open your binder and lay it out fat like the picture below.

You'll then cut a piece of fabric out with an extra edge.

2)  I then took some spray adhesive and sprayed it onto the front, back, and spine of the binder.

3)  Carefully smooth the fabric on the front, back, and spine of the binder that you just sprayed with adhesive.  Make sure to smooth it all out so there's no air pockets under the fabric.

4)  I then cut some thick scrapbook paper to cover the insides of the front and back cover so you don't really see the scraggly edges of the fabric. 

Instead of choosing some super nice paper, I decided to use some that was decent but that I wouldn't be using for any other projects (in other words, I didn't want to use the "good stuff" since I'll be the only one that will be using the binders).

5)  I then reorganized inside all of the binders by making my own dividers.  Again, I didn't want to waste my good paper, so I just used plain colored paper for the dividers, then cut up the leftover paper from step 4 to make the tabs. 

6)  Using my Dymo label maker, I made labels for the tabs.  Then, I just stapled the tabs onto the dividers.  Super easy!

All of the pages in the binders are slipped into plastic page protectors.  It makes it easier to add new pages and also makes all of the pages the same size.

I haven't figured out exactly how I want to label the spines, so they got a temporary label using my old-school Dymo label maker.  The binders look waaaay better than before though. 

Here's a quick before & after....

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm planning to cover my mis-matched photo albums with the canvas dropcloth also.  The nice thing is that I can always jazz up the covers by ironing on a graphic, or using ribbon, or any other kind of embellishment.  And it's a really quick, easy & cheap way to make a binder a lot nicer. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Linked up to:
The DIY Dreamer's From Dream to Reality link party

Lil Luna's link party

The NY Melrose Family's and Smart School House's Whimsy Wednesdays link party

Homework's The Inspiration Board link party

House on the Way's Twirl & Take a Bow link party

Live Laugh Rowe's Live Laugh Linky link party

House of Hepworth's Hookin Up With HOH link party

Delightful Order's Delightfully Inspiring Thursday link party

The 36th Avenue's Link Party

One Artsy Mama's Shine On Fridays link party

Too Much Time's Get Schooled Saturday link party

Tater Tots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up link party

Delightful Order's Paper Organization link party