DIY Refillable Notepad

Craft Your Own Refillable Notepad—Sustainable & Stylish ✨

Want a practical DIY project that keeps on giving? This refillable notepad tutorial shows you how to make a reusable writing pad that’s easy to refill anytime—ideal for planning, journaling, or quick daily notes.

Unlike single-use notepads, this version is built with flexibility in mind. You can swap in new pages whenever needed, making it both eco-friendly and efficient. It’s a great way to use printable templates from Planify Pro or your own custom inserts.

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to bind, fasten, and personalize a sleek notepad cover that holds your pages securely—no glue necessary. Let’s build a notepad that works as hard as you do—refill after refill. See Planify Pro‘s Planner Collections Here

Template

How to Export PDF

For Inserts: Go to Save/Export -> Selected Page -> Paper -> Select A6 (for Single Page) -> Click Generate PDF

For Cover Design: Go to Save/Export -> Selected Page -> Paper -> Select A4 Landscape -> Click Generate PDF

How to Print PDF

Download the Free Adobe Acrobat Reader program for printing.

How to print: You’ll need about 150 pages in total, depending on your paper thickness and screw size—adjust as needed so the paper stack matches the screw length. The PDF includes two pages; print only the second one (the right side) at 100% on precut A5 or A6 paper.

You will need

Materials:

Chipboard 1.4mm or any thickness
Regular Paper 70gsm (or any thickness)
White Glossy Sticker Paper
Chicago Screws 3/4inch

Equipments:

Heavy Duty Paper cutter
Cutter

Instructions:

Print and cut about 150 pages of inserts. Adjust the count based on your Chicago screw size—if using 15mm screws, you’ll need fewer pages. The printed stack should match the screw length.
Punch the inserts with a regular hole puncher.
Print the cover design on white glossy sticker paper. Trim the white edges around the cover design off.
Cut your chipboards to the following sizes: piece 1) 2x15cm — piece 2) 1.7x15cm — piece 3) 10.5x15cm
Remove the adhesive from the cover design
Place the chipboards on to the center of the cover design. Leave a 3-4mm gap between each chipboard.
Trim the corner with scissors (45degrees).
Fold in all the sides.
Take plain white glossy sticker paper and cut and into size so it fits on the inside of the cover.
Mark where the holes need to be punched.
Hole punch the inserts using a one hole puncher or any hole punching tool you have.
A leather hole puncher will work as well.
Take two Chicago screws.
Feed the pages through the holes.
Screw together the Chicago screws.
Your project is done!