Make your own Pads of Paper

I love to doodle. Doodling helps me quiet my mind and focus my thoughts. It also inspires me to be creative. I come up with my best ideas while I am doodling.

I prefer to doodle on different types of graph paper. And I make my own pads of paper out of graph paper that I create and print using Inkscape. In this post, I will share how I padded the paper to create my own notepads. And I don’t use any special glue or equipment. I just use a few items that I already had around the house.

If you want to see how I used Inkscape to design and print the paper, see this post.

First, you have to trim your paper down to size. I wanted my notepads to be 5.5″ x 8.5″,  which is a half sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ letter size paper. So that way I only had one cut. That is part laziness, and part logic. Each sheet of paper then would have 3 nice factory edges. I used a paper trimmer, which if you have access to one I would highly recommend to keep the cuts straight and square.

For the backing I used medium chipboard that I purchased from Amazon. But I have also used items salvaged from my recycling bin such as packaging materials, and cereal boxes. If there is something printed on it, either I will put that side in, or cover it with pretty paper. 

Then I neatly stacked the paper on the chip board, and used two pieces of wood, and two clamps to tightly clamp the paper and chip board together.

The Glue

There is a special glue for padding paper. But I just use the white school glue. And not even the brand name. It was just extra glue that one of the kids had brought home at the end of the school year. I don’t think most people would know the difference, but if I were making these for gifts, or to sell, I would probably buy the padding glue. It’s more flexible when it dries, and tears off a bit easier. But these are for me, so the white school glue is fine.

To apply the glue, I stand the pads up and close them in my desk drawer. Then apply a thin line and use my finger to spread it over the end of the pad.

Then I clean up any that I got on the wood. I leave it dry for a few hours, and then apply another coat. I repeat this until the top is nice and smooth, normally 3 or 4 coats.

That is basically it! Once the last coat of glue dries, I just carefully remove the clamp and the pieces of wood. If I am not careful when I apply the glue, the wood will be “padded” with the paper, and I will use an exacto knife to run between the wood and the pad. 

The Cost

If I factor in the cost of printing if I use a laser printer, it’s about $3.00 per pad. It may not be the cheapest per pad, but if you only want a couple pads here and there, it’s the best way to go. If you just use scraps of paper, and don’t print on them you could make them for next to nothing.

An extra tip…Use this method to pad your business cards together. There’s nothing worse than having your business cards scattered all over the place. It keeps them all together, and helps to keep them from getting bent.