Matchbook Motivations

I have a colleague at work who has to juggle a lot of personalities in the office, which can be pretty stressful. I try to be a sounding board for her but I thought she'd appreciate a little gift to inspire her on those days when she feels like crawling under her desk or banging her head against the nearest wall (I think we've all been there).

Here's all you need to make your own little booklets.

Supplies:
-printer paper
-2 sided scrapbooking paper
-paper cutter or craft knife and healing mat
-access to images and a printer &  word processing software
-stapler
-optional: embellishments

Steps:
1) Use these measurements to create a template for your matchbook cover:

You'll cut the outside edges and just score the other lines on the inside of the box.

2) Cut a pretty piece of 2 sided scrapbook paper out using your template ( or even better, get your cutting machine to do it for you!)

3) Score the lines as indicated above and set aside.

4) In a word processing program create this shape several times.  I just used the insert Text Box feature.

The smaller rectangle at the bottom is just a guide, you don't have to draw it in, score it or cut it.  Just don't put any images below this line or they'll be hidden.  However, what you can do is use a tracing wheel from your sewing kit to perforate along that line.  Then the pages can easily be torn out.  If you don't mind keeping them all in the book, then you can skip this step.

5)  Now, decide what kind of images you want to use.  I just went online to Pinterest or Quotesnsmiles.com and found lots of inspirational picture quotes.  Copy and past the images to fit inside the top rectangle.  Once you have a page of them, print them off, and then cut around the outside of each of them.

Optional: As above, you can use a tracing wheel to create a tear line.

6) Fit all of your pages inside your cover and just staple it along the bottom a couple of times.  Voila!  You're done~

I made another one for my niece that's just filled with adorable pictures of baby animals.

You can add embellishments or glitter or some other pizzazz to the outside if you want.  You could use them as a coupon book or for love notes or just leave the pages blank and throw it in your purse so you always have a notepad handy.

What will you put in your Matchbox book?  Leave a comment below~