Teacher Appreciation Day at our school is a wonderful time to show how very much I appreciate the time, effort and energy that my children's teachers put forth.
This year, I created a handful of notebooks for teacher gifts. Thanks go out to my friend Bevie Pearl -she discovered pads of lined legal pads at Staples (12 for $8.98). I cut down the pad length from 14" to 12", then cut them in half vertically - so I now have two dozen 4-1/4" x 12" pads!
I was able to use my simple Karl Cutter to neatly slice these notebooks to the size I needed; an office supply store could do the same if needed.
Using only one sheet of 12x12 double sided patterned paper per pad (new pad size that is: 4-1/4" x 12"), I created easy and fast notebook covers!! 
Here's how I did these: Score a 12" x 12" double sided cardstock sheet at 4-1/4", 4-1/2" and 8-3/4". This allows for a small pocket on the notebook inside - like this!
Now, my trick for this altered item is to use a piece of the chopped off triangle scrap to make the interior pocket, and using this piece to form the pocket base. I really don't like to just run a line of adhesive along the bottom to create a pocket, as papers tend to get stuck in it - :(
So instead, I chopped off about 2" from the wide part of the triangle scrap - like this: 
Scored this segment in half, and adhered it to the pocket base...
<--- like this!
Your next step would be to adhere this scrap to the notebook cover front inside. Presto...pocket! Nice & neat!!! Hope you all like this handy trick. :0)
For the notebook focal point, I stamped one of my favorite images from Lockhart - an adorable cup of pencils! Copic markers were used to color in the image, matted with Memory Box Lagoon (gorgeous color...!). Sentiment is from A Muse. Glossy Accents was added to make the pencil container resemble glass!
I adhered a pen to the notebook front, thanks to inspiration from my friend Cami's post here! To adhere a ribbon loop for the pen, I used a lot of adhesive and a cute pen (also from Staples - came in a pack of 10 or 12). Here's a pic!
These notebooks do not really need closures, but for this one, I used a piece of Tim Holtz's Fragments and a pair of Basic Grey's magnetic snaps. Stamped the Lockhart pencils onto a scrap of Lagoon cardstock, and followed Tim's Fragments YouTube video instructions.
supplies: Copic markers, Memory Box paper, notecards and envelopes, and the entire Lockhart Rubber Stamp line - available at Ellen Hutson, LLC.
Thank you for stopping by and best wishes for a wonderful week!
~ the busy bee, Cindy
