Perfect your scrapbooking game with this simple DIY

You've collected pages and pages of recipes torn out of magazines and books over the years. Or those treasured handwritten letters are just lying in a folder in desperate need of some organisation. Maybe you want to put together a milestone journal for your little one or craft a beautiful book of memories for a dear friend. Why not add that special touch by creating a handmade journal?  

"I used to make scrapbooks, collect magazine and newspaper articles, illustrations, fabric swatches, stamps and quirky matchboxes," explains lifestyle accessory designer Jahnawee Potdar. "All this needed different kinds of journals and albums to store. The simple solution was to make customized handmade notebooks."

The NID and NIFT alumnus who loves creating handmade accessories and designing lifestyle products, regularly gives workshops on different bookbinding techniques that are very simple to recreate with just a few tools. Here she shows us two ways - how to bind a set of magazines into a beautiful handmade tome and how to create a wonderful folder for loose paper replete with a storage flap at the end.

"What I like about DIY bookbinding the most is the level of customisation one can add to it. With handmade books and journals, you can play with different materials, sizes, types of stitches and types of books." She has a few tips for those trying it for the first time:

·    Use papers in different colours. I like using coloured papers along with basic white as that makes it easy to colour code and          segregate data.

·    I prefer using a basic bookbinding needle and add colour with different craft yarns.

·    One of my personal favourite tools is a hand-drill. It allows you to easily bind sheets and materials of various thickness                    together.

·    Don't rush the process. Allow the glue to fully dry on the cover pages and be careful about measuring where to drill the                  holes and make folds.

Watch her two videos and have fun making these!