I made this in honor of my friends back east who are getting more than their share of snow this winter. My old company carried several different designs of these easy-to-make 5" x 8" notepad covers.

You will need:

Fabric

1/4 yard textured black cotton ( I used Robert Kaufman's "Fusions Collection III" screen print D#9852) - background
1/4 yard red cotton print (This can be any color that compliments your cover design colors) - lining

Felted Wool - Suggested colors

3" x 6 1/2" Oatmeal herringbone - snow
3" x 5 1/2" dirty white - snowman
2" square gray/black herringbone - hat
2" x 3" red stripe - scarf
1" x 1 1/2" orange - nose
1" x 2" green - tree branch #1
1" x 2 1/2" green tweed - tree branch #2
1" x 3" light-green - tree branch #3
1" x 3" green plaid - tree branch #4
3" x 4" red/black plaid - bird (front and back cover)
2" square gray/red plaid - bird wing (front and back cover)
2 1/2" x 7" brown - tree branch (back cover)

Thread ( I used Valdani perle cotton Valdani.com and Wildflowers by Caron Caron-net.com)

Perle cotton, size 12 or 2 strands of floss
- Cream - snow and snowman
- Dark gray - hat, wings, snowman's eyes and mouth
- Light gray - bird's eye, wing and tail embellishment
- Brown - tree trunk and tree branch (back cover)
- Orange - snowman's nose and bird's beak
- Red - scarf
- Medium green - tree branches (front cover)
- Light green - hat band, tree branch embellishment (front cover), and pine needles
Perle cotton, size 8 or 3 strands of floss
- Brown - small tree branches (back cover)
- Medium green - Blanket stitch embellishment around cover

Miscellaneous

2" length of 3/8" wide green ribbon
6" length of 3/8" wide brown ribbon
Lite-weight fusible web
Chenille needle, size 24
Chalk pencil
5" x 8" notepad
5" x 8" piece of mat or tag board
Sewing machine
Steam iron

Background Assembly

Note: If you cannot find a 5" x 8" notepad cut your fabric 1 1/4" wider than the width of the pad and 9" longer than 3 times the pad's length. Example: 6" x 9" pad = 7 1/4" x 36". You will have to adjust the snow and back cover branch dimensions so they span the width of your notepad cover.

Cut both the black background fabric and the lining fabric into 6 1/4" x 33" strips.
Place right sides together and sew the 33" sides using a 1/4" seam allowance. Do not sew the ends together.
Turn right side out and press. Fold each end under 1/2" and press. Fold each end under 1/2" again and press. Top stitch each end.
Place the fabric lining side up and fold each end toward the lining fabric. Fold one side in 6" and the other side in 8". Press each fold and pin the 6" side only. Do not sew together.
Flip the fabric over, so that the black side is on top. Leaving both sides folded under, use a chalk pencil to draw a line 8" from the end that is folded under 8". The area between the chalk line and the fold will be the front cover. The chalk line will be the top and the fold will be the bottom.
Unfold the 8" end prior to stitching your applique.

Applique - All stitches are made with one strand of perle cotton, size 12 unless otherwise noted.

Download: Snow Day - Layout, Snow Day - Pattern, Snow Day (back cover) - Layout and pattern, and Stitch Guide (if needed). The Stitch Guide is the same for all projects.
Reverse pattern images and trace onto fusible web. Cut out pieces slightly larger than outline.
Fuse pattern pieces onto wool and cut out along outline.
Remove backing from snow and position bottom edge along bottom fold line (see below). Fuse in place (You will need steam in your iron).

5. Whip stitch snow in place with cream colored thread.

6. Trim brown ribbon(tree trunk) to 5 1/2".

7. Place snowman, tree trunk, branches 1-4, and bird on background. Remove everything but the tree trunk. Pin the tree trunk in place. Whip stitch with brown thread.

8. Reposition snow man and tree branches. Fuse in place.

9. Whip stitch snowman with cream thread and tree branches with medium-green thread.

10. Fuse scarf in place. Whip stitch with red thread. With the same thread, stitch 3 french knots on each of the scarf ends. Stitch 2 straight stitches radiating out from each french knot to make the scarf fringe.

11. Fuse carrot nose in place and whip stitch with orange thread. With the same thread, stitch 3 horizontal straight stitches on carrot nose.

12. Fuse hat in place and whip stitch with dark gray thread.

13. Cut green hatband ribbon to 1 1/4" inches. Fold each end under approximately 1/4" and pin in place. Whip stitch with light-green thread.

14. Use a chalk pencil to draw dots for eyes and mouth. Use dark gray thread to make a french knot over each dot.

15. Whip stitch tree branches with green thread.

Draw a horizontal line across each branch.
Use red thread to make a french knot in the center of each branch.
Use light green thread to make a closed fly stitch over each horizontal line, begining at the outside edge and ending at the french knot (see layout).

16. Fuse bird in place and whip stitch with red thread.

Fuse wing in place and whip stitch with dark gray thread.
Using light gray thread, stitch a french knot for the bird's eye.
Using orange thread, satin stitch the beak.

Now let's work on the back cover. This will appear upside down to the snowman. The bottom edge will be the fold. Unpin the 6" folded side.

1. Position branch and bird on background. Remove bird and fuse branch in place. Whip stitch with brown thead.

2. Reposition bird and fuse in place.

Whip stitch with red thread.
Fuse wing in place.
Use chalk pencil to draw legs and wing and tail embellishments.
Back stitch legs with orange thread. Use the same thread to satin stitch beak.
Use light gray thread to backstitch wing embellishment. Use the same thread to make a closed fly stitch for tail embellishment and french knot for eye.

3. Draw small branches with chalk pencil.

Use brown perle cotton, size 8 to back stitch over lines.
Use light green thread(perle 12) to make pine needles (see layout for positioning).

Finishing

1. Fold both the 8" and 6"ends under and pin to secure. Erase chalk line.

2. Blanket stitch both sides of notepad cover using green perle cotton, size 8. Begin at the bottom fold of the front or back cover, hiding your knot between the layers of fabric. (see below). The blanket stitches are approximately 1/4" wide and 3/16" deep. If you make the stitches too deep you will have trouble getting your notepad and matboard in.

3. Slide matboard/tagboard into 8" pocket.

4. Slide back of notepad into 6" pocket.

5. ENJOY!