DIY Elastic Notebook Closure and Crochet Loopy Flower Pattern

I carry a notebook around with me practically everywhere I go. I use it to jot down ideas, keep track of things that happen each month, organize my non-Etsy orders, and to document my crochet patterns. It's a simple journal, nothing spectacular, but I love that it says "Super Awesome Ideas" on the front. I'm forever tossing bits of paper in there, so I wanted to find a way to keep it closed in the hope that my bag doesn't get littered with all those bits of paper. I'm trying to avoid losing the world's next great idea in the abyss that is my purse :)

Here's what I came up with. It's simple and super quick.

Materials:

• notebook
• elastic (I got this awesome gold stuff from JoAnn's)
• button
• needle and thread

Directions:

1. Wrap the elastic around your notebook from top to bottom, and tighten just a little so it has to stretch. Cut.
2. Put the two ends together, and using a zigzag stitch, sew into a loop.
3. Repeat steps one and two for the width of the notebook.
4. Cross the seams of the two elastic loops together and sew diagonally through all the layers.
5. Hand sew the button over the seams to cover them
6. Put on your notebook and adjust to your liking.

That's it! It took me about 5 minutes to make, and that's my favorite kind of project!

I kind of wish the elastic was a little thinner so it doesn't get bunched up in the binding, but the sparkly gold color totally makes up for it!

UPDATE: I looked at my notebook this morning, and it was missing something. I happened to have some blue yarn next to me and I decided to work up this simple little loopy flower to add to the button. Much better!

Pattern:
Ch. 6, join into a loop with sl st (I found this to be a little tight to go around my button, so you  might want to increase or decrease beginning chain based on the size of your button)

Round 1: *ch 8, sc into loop, repeat from * 11 more times (or as many times as number of petals you want), fasten off and weave in ends.