I’m always on the lookout for journaling goodies.  It’s hard for me to find that thing that will get me the “most bang for my buck”.  The other day, I saw something at papertreyink that I loved.  A spiral notebook page die and a library pocket die!  Oh yes! 

Then I remembered…how silly to have a DIE to cut a rectangle.  HELLO?  Got a paper cutter? 

I set out to see if I could re-create without the DIE and with my FRNs intact.  (FRN – Federal Reserve Notes).  😉 

First up…spiral paper.   I grabbed a couple sheets of Whisper White cardstock & started cutting.

I originally planned to use SU!’s Spiral Punch…but it just didn’t look right.  Then I got to looking at that die again…and the holes are circular.  Hmmmm….how do I do this?

That’ll work.  Now to punch ’em out!

Ok.  I was feeling cheap…this is not looking “perfect”.  WHOA!  Back up the train here!  Perfect…it’s not supposed to be perfect!  Each item is not supposed to match exactly.  It’s hand crafted…granted…it’s not TACKY, but the whole purpose of creating is to create, right?  OK.  I keep chugging along here…still sorta pining away for that die…I’m not giving up yet.

Oh yeah…the die has perforations.  I know…that “handy dandy” SU! Cutter Tool.

Ahem…now, this was a frustrating experiment.  That “handy dandy” SU! Cutter Tool, among other things, has a perforation tool.  Now, I could NOT get it to go straight, even againt a ruler.  And I chugged and I chugged…I mean, I tried and tried.  Then, I got frustrated.  Bah!

I looked at the die, again…wait a minute…is that a row of round dots?  Uh, huh.  I grabbed the stitching template and the paper piercer and poked holes.  That was fun!  It’s right up there with popping bubble wrap!  😀  Poking holes in cardstock with a paper piercer!  Fun!

Lined notebook paper needs lines.  I don’t need a stamp for lines either.  I used a ruler, Bashful Blue marker and the grid on the mat from the mat stack.  And NOPE, the lines are not perfectly spaced on each one of them.  That’s ok.  They still look good.