Personalize a blank notebook with this washi tape DIY

When you write in a journal, it has to feel right. If the notebook doesn't feel personal, welcoming, and aesthetically suited to who you are, then it's harder to pour your heart out into it. Luckily, it's easy to personalize any blank notebook to suit the exact head space you need. Washi tape provides an affordable, simple option for such personalization.
This DIY uses a small, blank notebook and three colors of washi tape. The floral, cream and pink tape colors complement each other. They feel soft, feminine and vintage. However, you can change up your own tape choices to suit any mood. If you work with a smaller or larger notebook than what's featured here, you can always adapt the DIY accordingly. Once you've created your journal, take the time to draw or write your heart out.
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Materials
- 6-by-8-inch blank notebook
- 1/2-inch wide washi tape in cream color
- 1/2-inch wide washi tape in pink color
- 1/2-inch wide washi tape in floral print
- Scissors
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Instructions
1. Lay your blank notebook flat on your work surface. You will begin working in the bottom right corner of the front of the book.
2. Adhere a strip of cream-colored washi tape to the bottom right corner of the book, placing it diagonally from right to left. Cover the corner completely and snip the tape on the left side of the notebook with the scissors. There will be extra washi tape extending over both ends of the notebook. That's perfectly OK for now.
3. Adhere a strip of floral print washi tape to the notebook, parallel to and just touching the edge of the cream-colored tape placed in the previous step. You're creating diagonal rows of tape, building up from the bottom right corner toward the top left corner of the notebook. Snip the tape with your scissors on the left side of the notebook, leaving tape ends hanging.
4. Add four more strips of washi tape in the same manner using the following color sequence: pink, floral, cream, floral. Leave the tape ends hanging.
5. Add the next strip of pink washi tape. However, this time, instead of snipping the tape at the left side of the notebook, continue to wrap the pink tape around the notebook binding to the back of the notebook. As you wrap the tape to the back, create a diagonal line of tape from the right -- the binding side of the notebook -- working left and down toward the bottom of the notebook. As before, you'll now snip the left side of the tape with your scissors, leaving the extra hanging off the edge.
6. Turn the notebook over so that you're working on the front side. Repeat step five using the same color sequence: floral, white, floral, pink. Continue working in this manner until you have 12 strips of washi tape covering both the front and back of the notebook, plus the first five strips that only cover the front.
7. Repeat step four above to add additional strips of washi tape to the notebook front only. You will add one set: floral, pink, floral, white. This should cover the entire notebook. Of course, adjust with additional washi tape as needed if your materials varied in size.
8. Turn the notebook over to work on the back. Repeat the process in step seven to cover the back of the notebook with washi tape. You will likely need five strips: floral, pink, floral, white, floral.
9. Open the back cover of the notebook. You will see all of the washi tape hanging over the edge. Fold the tape, pressing each piece down onto the inside back cover.
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10. Repeat step nine with the front cover of the notebook.
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