I used a cover plan from Crafts by Lisha and her video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTKY8bHUI3g that walks you through how to make one. She used a Dollar Tree placemat, and I had two pieces of cardstock that were cut to 9 x 12″ and placed back to back and glued together with tear tape. I took them to Staples where they laminated it for me and rounded the corners, as I had rounded the corners of the cardstock within.
I used a centering ruler from Tim Holtz (link  https://tinyurl.com/y9e8pm6f)…the way you use it,  you measure the length of your paper and divide that number in half. Then using that number, lay the left side of your ruler on the left side of your paper at that number, and the zero is now on the center of your paper. So my length on the top was 12″ and dividing it in half, I laid the left side of the ruler on 6″ on the left side of my paper and the zero is now the center of my paper….If you don’t have a centering ruler, you can lay your ruler on your paper and use 6″ as your center spot. I made a mark 1/2″ to the left, and 1/2″ to the right of the center spot. If you don’t have a centering ruler, you’d make a mark at 5 1/2″ and 6 1/2″ on yours. I measured 1/2″ from the top of the paper and made a mark with a waterbased marker so I could wipe it off when I was done. I made the same marks at the top and bottom of my planner in the center, so I’d know where to punch holes. On the side of my planner, I put a mark at 4 1/2″ as the length was 9″ and then made the mark about 1″ from the right edge so I had a place to punch a hole to thread elastic that would hold the planner closed.
I used eyelets (link https://tinyurl.com/y7rl7box ) on my holes after using a Crop-a-Dile to punch holes. You don’t need a Crop-a-Dile, link https://tinyurl.com/ya3vxadu as you can use a simple hole punch, but the Crop-a-Dile also acts as an eyelet setter. You also don’t need to use eyelets, and can simply leave the holes as they are after punching them, but eyelets will make it hold up better. You can buy them at any craft store and they come with a setter that is simple to use. link https://tinyurl.com/y7rl7box
After setting the eyelets with the Crop a dile, I used thick elastic white cord from Joanns, link https://tinyurl.com/y8erf3jb (about 2 yards)….I started by taking the white elastic cord on the inside of the planner, and running it to the outside of the planner through the top right hole and taping the end down inside the planner, so it doesn’t come loose. Then thread the elastic through the top left hole into the inside of the planner, then down to the bottom left hole to the outside and then into the bottom right hole, then up to the top right hole then to the outside of the planner and back in through the top left hole and down to the bottom left hole, then to the outside through the bottom right hole, then to the top right hole to the outside, then in through the top left hole, then out through the bottom left hole, then in through the bottom right hole, then tie it to the piece that you taped down…I made three knots to make sure it was tied well and pulled each one really tight. You should end up with three lines of elastic on both sides of the planner.
I pulled a length of elastic that I thought would give me enough (doubled) to surround the planner and be able to have enough left to tie knots. I ran a decorator button (one that doesn’t show the cord as it’s beneath the button) through the cord then pulled both ends of the cord from the outside of the planner through the hole on the center of the planner….I made it long enough on the outside to wrap around the planner, then pulled a small button through both ends of the cord so the knots don’t pull out of the planner, and tied it with a triple knot, then using a large marker for guidance, pulled another button through both strands with the marker between the buttons, and tied three knots in the elastic cord to leave us a pen holder loop that’s almost hidden.

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