Tis the season for super savings on school staples. With the summer coming to a rapid end, just about every discount retailer known to man is offering spectacular sales on back-to-school items, from spiral notebooks for a penny to double-pack Sharpies for a mere 25 cents.
In most cases, the deepest discounts are reserved for generic items. If you are on a budget, then you’re probably not worried about getting a notebook covered with cute animated characters or the latest and greatest teen heartthrob. However, your kid might.
Fortunately, with a little creativity, you and your child can turn boring (yet very affordable) school supplies into personalized masterpieces. Here’s how:
Notebooks are a staple on most school supply lists and you can make them stand out by creating customized covers for just pennies. All you need is some double-sided tape, construction paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils, gems, stickers, stamps, glitter glue, buttons or other embellishments, and clear contact paper. To make the kicked-up cover, attach double-stick tape to a piece of construction paper and wrap the paper around the entire notebook, both front and back. Next, write your name and the subject, or draw designs on the paper with the crayons, gel pens or markers. Then, add your embellishments. When you’ve got the cover made just the way you want, cover it with clear contact paper.
Another option is to create a decoupage collage cover. This technique could be used for a notebook or a plain-covered three-ring binder. Simply have your child select photos of themselves and their friends or have them cut-out images of their favorite actors, singers or dancers from magazines. Once you have all of the photos together, arrange them on a sheet of scratch paper. Next, apply Mod Podge to the collage using a foam paint brush. When you are done, adhere the images to the notebook or three-ring binder. Just be careful to smooth out the paper to prevent air bubbles. When the first coat of Mod Podge is completely dry cover the collage with one or two more coats to form a protective barrier.
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