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I am the first to admit that I am not the best at getting out birthday cards on time, let alone getting them out at all. As a person who not only owns the supplies necessary to make handmade cards but also makes plenty of cards all the time just for fun, there really is no excuse except that I forget.

One of my favorite crafts to make is something that helps me in my daily life. So I made up a little reminder book to track all these birth dates in order to get a little more organized. This is a quick and simple craft tutorial that is the basics for making a little book. It is also a great project for recycling those cardboard or cereal boxes.

Birthday Reminder Book Tutorial

Materials:

• Chipboard
• Patterned Paper and/or Cardstock
• Adhesive
• Scissors
• Bone Folder or Scoring Tool
• Crop-a-Dile or Hole Punch
• Tab Punch
• Stapler
• Word Window Punch (optional)
• Stamps and Ink (optional)
• Ribbon (optional)
• Buttons (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut out Chipboard (you can use a cereal box, those work great too!) for the cover.
Measurements are 4″ x 10″.
Cut the paper you would like for the cover as well.
Measurements are 5.25″ x 11.25″.

2. With a glue stick or tape runner, stick your chipboard to your paper and snip the corners like so.

3. Score along the edges of the chipboard so that your paper will fold over smoothly.

4. Place double sided tape all along the four sides. You really need strong adhesive for this so that it will stay put forever.

5. Fold in all four sides. I like to do top and bottom first, then the sides.

6. Snipping the corners gives you nice mitered corners for that finished look, all nice and neat.

7. Next you will need another piece of paper to cover the center.
Measurements are 2.75″ x 8.75″. Glue in place.

8. Next, punch out a piece of paper using the tab punch.
Wrap punched tab around desired pencil or pen and hold to the side of the book.
Slip out pencil/pen and staple in place.

9. Your cover is done, you can embellish as you like. I always start out simple and then add to it later.

10. Next we need tabs for the pages so that each month is easy to flip to.
I used a word window punch and alphabet stamps for this part. You can also cut strips of paper and write out or type the months.
Hint: When using a punch, stamp the words first and then punch out.

11. Print out the inside pages from your computer on nice white cardstock, then attach the tabs with glue dots to the back of each month.
I put the pages on their side to line up the months as best I can.

12. Punch a hole with a crop-o-dile at the top right corner. It will go through the cover and all the pages in one punch!
Grab your messy ribbon jar and add some to the binding clip you’re using to hold the whole book together. Wait, you don’t have a junky ribbon jar like me? Really? Well, grab your ribbon scraps and tie them on the clip for a fun embellishment.

13. Then you’ll need to do is add your friends’ birthdays. I add the most important ones first.

14. Embellish the cover more if you like.
I added a stamped cupcake and some buttons.
Slip in your pencil and you are all set!

Do you send out handmade birthday cards? How do you stay organized when it comes to handmade gifts?