Project | Coupon Binder
Some of the best papercrafting projects are the ones where we can use the gorgeous products we love to make something that we use every day more beautiful.
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I'm a huge couponer and my coupon stash is so enormous that it takes up a letter-sized binder that I tote with me every time I shop. Inside, my coupons are stored in Baseball Card Storage Pages, and I also have pocket dividers that hold my lists of coupons and sales for each of my favorite local stores.
My coupon binder system was outgrowing the 1 inch binder I had been using, so I decided recently that it was time to upgrade to a Heavy Duty 2 inch Binder by Avery. These binders have "view" covers that can be customized by dropping sheets of paper into clear pockets. It was a perfect project for my patterned paper stash!
Heidi Swapp Coupon Binder
I had a brand new Heidi Swapp paper pad ("Hello Today" - an exclusive to the Michaels chain here in the U.S., but available elsewhere overseas) that I was dying to use for something and it was just perfect to turn the ugly blue binder into a lovely accessory for the grocery store. I kept the design really simple for both durability and style, using just a background sheet, a border punched strip and a die cut label as the paper elements. The only embellishment is the glitter phrase sticker, from an instagram themed set that coordinates with the paper pad.
Coupon Binder Close-Up
I chose the "good stuff" sticker because to me my coupons are really good stuff! In my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software, the label cutting file was easy to resize so that it fit the sticker dimensions exactly how I wanted.
Since the binder will be used heavily and banged around a lot, I made sure to use lots of adhesive when I attached the elements.
Coupon Binder Spine
I didn't want to put all that effort into the cover and still have that bright blue showing everywhere else! So I dug into the coordinated sheets in the paper pad, and found a fun dot to use for the spine. This gave me a large floral, a medium dot, and a small stripe on the cover and spine, providing me some balance in both scale and type of pattern.
Coupon Binder Back
For the back cover, I repeated the small rainbow stripe that I used for the trim strip on the front page. The black rivets holding the rings in place block the pocket near the spine and prevent the insert sheet from going all the way across the back, so there is some blue showing still. I could have put a second strip in the gap between the rivets and the spine to hide some more of the blue cover but I decided not to worry about it that much!
This was a really quick project but one that I will get to enjoy daily and that will beautify my life for a long time to come!
Supply List:
Heidi Swapp "Hello Today" 12x12 Paper Pad (Michaels Stores exclusive in U.S.)
Heidi Swapp "Insta" glitter stickers (Michaels Stores exclusive in U.S.)
Bazzill Smooth Cardstock (Marshmallow)
6 Label Shapes with Mat cutting file by Lori Whitlock for Silhouette
Avery Heavy Duty 2" Binder
Avery Big Tab Two-Pocket Insertable Plastic Dividers (5-Tab Set)
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