I made a notebook based off a wood scrapbook design I saw years ago.
It is sized to be able to hold a 4x6 index card inside a plastic sleeve.
I used Poplar, Sedona Red Stain and Red Tinted Shellac.
Here is the cove and front spine. The holes are for post screws to hold it together.
After the red stain:
And the red tinted shellac
The final notebook
It took a little over 5 hours to carve. Next time I would only carve the front cover, which would cut the carve time in half. 
Also the inset for the hinges was just a hair too deep so the book would not close perfectly flat. I could have easily just sanded down the inside edge, but it was hardly noticeable, so I didn’t bother. I will make an adjustment to the cut file for the next one.