Whether you are low on cash and faced with numerous gift-giving occasions or you want to give a thoughtful handmade gift, a book of motivational quotes is a great option.
Where to Find Quotations
Once you start looking for quotations, you’ll find them everywhere from magnets to mugs, posters to tee shirts. You can find books of quotes, usually devoted to particular topics at your library. You can also search online quotation databases.
Use subject guides that will narrow your options. You’ll want ten-to-twelve quotations. Collect a maximum of fifteen and then select your favorites.
Designing a Quotation Book on Your Computer
Type the quotations into a word processing document. Include the name of the person quoted.
Format the page layout to landscape. Then, set the layout to two columns.
Use page and column breaks to move each quotation to the right hand side of each page.
Select a typeface and type size that allows the longest quote to fit on one page.
Reduce the type size of the name of the people quoted. You may also want to set the person’s name flush with the right-hand margin.
If desired, insert clip art onto any of the pages. You can vary the location of the clip art: at the top of the page, at the bottom, with the text wrapped around the art, etc. Only do what you feel comfortable doing.
Review the document to make certain that the quotes use the same font size and alignment. Make certain that you are only printing on the right hand column. You want an even number of quotations.
Create a cover. This can be as simple as, “Tessa, On Your Graduation from High School.” In the left hand column, at the bottom, write, “Compiled by (your name), (year)”
Print the cover and half of the quotation pages onto paper. Make this a special gift by looking for parchment paper or another nicer paper that will work with your computer’s printer.
Take the quotation pages and set them back into your printer so you can print the other half of the quotations onto the back of the paper. When you fold the pages in half, you should have a quotation on the right hand side of each piece of paper. The cover page will be blank on the inside.
Hand binding a Booklet
You can staple the pages together with two staples on the fold. Or, you can hand stitch the booklet together with embroidery floss and a embroidery needle.
Fold the booklet in half, making certain that the crease is sharp. Open the pages and set onto a sheet of cardboard. Use either the embroidery needle or a pushpin to punch holes along the fold. Punch the holes through all the pages at once so the pages line up. Make the holes a half-inch to an inch apart.
Thread the needle. Sew up through one hole and down through the next from one end of the page to the other. Then, go back in the direction you came from. The stitches should lie next to one another so you don’t see gaps between the stitches.
Knot the thread.
Now, you are ready to present your handmade booklet of motivational and inspiration quotations to the recipient.
