Ten minute notebook

To make this notebook you need nothing more than a copy of a newspaper magazine, needle and embroidery thread, and double sided sticky tape. And ten minutes.

Then you need never buy another notebook in the National Trust giftshop, ever again. You can spend that £2.50 on a bar of chocolate and hide under the stairs instead.

Step one: Cut out from the magazine pages the size of internal pages you want. I don't know. How big is the jeans pocket on your bum? Make it to that size. Cut the number of pages you want. Make sure that on the magazine pages you use there is blank space if you're writing. It would be silly to cut out only the trendy black printed pages, wouldn't it?


Step two: Use more of the magazine or find some pretty paper as a cover; fold it over to create a back and a front to your pages. You can use anything. The paper we get from our local chippy works well.


Step three: Stitch across the top. I bet you're sorry you wanted 250 pages in your notebook now aren't you? Thin but strong paper works better; anything posh and glossy and covered in chemical coating is difficult to stitch. Cheap, grey, plenty of blank space all good. I use the Independent magazine.

Step four: That's it. You have a notebook.


If you have kids and they like collecting crap then stick in double sided sticky tape. At this point, only peel away one side to stick to your page, obviously, otherwise you'll stick all the pages together.

On your walk, when the kids bring you sand, feathers, flowers, leaves, lollysticks, string and discarded chocolate bar wrapping to shove in your handbag, say no with real pride and tell them to peel off the upper protective layer to the sticky tape and press their findings on the sticky bit. To stop the pages sticking together when you close the book and sit on it, simply sprinkle over the exposed sticky parts a crumble of sand or soil.

The one photographed is one I took with me on the Sunday walk. I left the stitching long and we wrapped twigs round the hanging length. The kids stuck bits on the double sided tape, and I made notes in the rest. If I was following this through, I'd stick in photographs of the day.


Now, the plans to spend a year in Hong Kong are off, but Dig might accept a tour for a few months. His soul is not for sale. Mine can be had for £2.50.