Monday, October 1, 2012

A New Look for Matchbooks

Twenty or thirty years ago, before the now-prevailing stigma attached to cigarettes and smoking, it was as common for a restaurant to hand out matchbooks to its patrons as it was to give them mints or a toothpick.  The matchbooks served as their business card, along with a little something useful besides.  My mother, sister, and I have all gone through "matchbook collection" phases in our lives, and I've always been fond of their design.

When smoking paraphernalia began to be frowned upon, I noticed a few businesses that still provided matchbooks, but rather than matches, there were little pieces of paper stapled inside.  The paper-lover in me has always found this terribly clever.
Since then, I've seen all kinds of notebooks and greeting cards created using the matchbook design, and Studio 791 has been humming along with Holiday Matchbook Notepad production.
The notepads are just under three inches square, larger than a standard matchbook to make them a little more useful for actual note-taking and list-making.  I used copy-weight paper so that each pad could accomodate 15 pages.  (With drawing-weight paper, I couldn't staple through enough pages to make it a worthwhile notepad.)  The matchbooks themselves are crafted from holiday-themed scrapbooking papers.  While the front of the staple shows, I hid the back of the staple inside to prevent any possibility of it catching on fabrics when carried in pockets or purses.
I think these make awesome little gifts, stocking stuffers, or party favors.  They could also be used in art journals and scrapbooks to make your pages more interactive, and to accommodate more (hidden) images and writing.  And, of course, if you want to take them back to their roots, you could add a sticker with your personal or business information on the front, and use them to share contact information and promote your business!
I will be including these Matchbook Notepads for the first time in my upcoming holiday craft shows.  (Details are in the left sidebar!) 

If you want more details about how I created the notepads, let me know and I will prepare a more detailed "how-to" post for you!

9 comments:

uncustomary said...

Very cute!! You should definitely hand these out as mini presents for the holidays!

Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.com said...

Oh yes!!! I want one!!! Very cute and clever.

laurie said...

very cute! i can imagine these as a "lifesaver" when you need to jot down a number or a message.

i still collect matchbooks or boxes from businesses and keep them around my house to light candles with - i love how creative some of them are.

VivJM said...

Oh, what a great idea Andria!

aprilmariecole.blogspot.com said...

Wonderful...
These look great, such a clever craft!
A great stocking stuffer, indeed :]

Anne said...

Hope my Christmas stocking has one of these in it! I love the idea of using them in journal pages as another layer of hidden messaging. I would also put one in my stitching basket as I'm always seeing a website to check out as I stitch and watch TV with nowhere to write it down.

Frau S said...

These are super cute!

Karenann Young said...

Love the idea of the matchbooks! I can see making some for myself! I have only a little space on my nightstand and there is always something that I want to jot down! Thanks for sharing!!

Parabolic Muse said...

Okay, hey. HEY!!!!!

yes, I want the how-to. You can dash off something quick and textual if it's easy for you.

But beyond that, I had this idea... How about matchBOXES. Huh? Why don't we do a matchbox journal swap? I don't have many matchbooks, and I don't know where I'd get them. But I have match boxes and the outer sleeve would work fabulously as a binder for some little papers. I guess they'd have to be sewn in. I'll work it out and get back to you.

In other news, I'm working on some rolodexes but my niece is spending the day so who knows when, with work and all, I'll get them out. If I do a matchbox journal, I toss that in.

I mean, it's not like I have Halloween art to do, or Karen swaps, or paintings or gifts or anything...

procrastination art? I'm in.