Personalized Back to School DIY with Cricut Adhesive Foil
Are you looking for a fun way to jazz up your back-to-school supplies? Here's a cool idea: get creative with some personalized school supplies! Older kids can join in on the fun by creating colorful backgrounds on Yupo paper using alcohol inks. Then, add a design cut from Cricut adhesive foil for some extra sparkle and shine! Soon you'll have yourself a super cool, personalized notebook that's sure to make going back to school a little more fun. Don't want to alcohol paint or use a die cutting machine? No worries! You can still jazz up your plain notebooks with some heavy paper and stickers.
Materials:
- Yupo paper
- Alcohol inks in colors of choice
- Cricut adhesive foil
- Spray adhesive
- Kamar varnish (optional)
- Decorative tape (optional)
- Composition notebook
Directions:
If you’ve never worked with Yupo paper, you’re in for a treat! Though Yupo paper is not actually paper at all – it’s nonporous polypropylene, which makes it ideal for use with alcohol inks.
Cut a piece of Yupo paper slightly larger than needed to fit the cover of your notebook. You’ll be cutting the paper to exact size after gluing it to the cover in a later step.
Spread some alcohol across the paper using a paper towel.
Squirt several colors of ink into the alcohol and then have some fun! You can manipulate the inks in a variety of ways until you get an interesting background that you love. It’s hard to go wrong – but if you do, the inks can be wiped away with some alcohol and a paper towel.
Here are some things to try! Draw a texture tool through the ink or spread it with a straw. Blow through a straw to spread the ink. Tip the paper and let the inks run and drip across the paper. Spritz the ink with alcohol from a spray bottle.
If you’d like, after the ink dries, you can apply a coat of spray varnish like Kamar Varnish to protect the surface.
Apply spray adhesive to the back of the painting and glue it to the notebook cover. After the glue dries, open the cover, and trim the excess paper away using scissors.
Create your cut design in Cricut Design Space.
Cut the design from adhesive foil in the color of your choice. Weed the design and apply it to the notebook cover using transfer paper. If you’re accustomed to working with vinyl, you’ll notice that the foil is more brittle and (I think) a bit trickier to get onto the transfer paper. Take your time and the result will be worth the extra effort.
Add some decorative tape and any other embellishments to the cover that you’d like.
BONUS: Make a coordinating zippered pencil case. No sewing is required!
Materials:
- Zipper
- Clear vinyl
- Faux leather paper or Kraftex paper
- Decorative duct tape
Directions:
Cut 2 rectangles from clear plastic vinyl and 2 from faux leather paper about 3 x 10 inches in size. Paint using alcohol inks on one side of the vinyl. Place the vinyl – painted side down – on top of the leather paper. If you’d like, you can tack the pieces together with a bit of masking tape to make them easier to work with. These will create 2 sides for your pencil pouch.
Put a piece of duct tape around both ends of your zipper, leaving about 8.5-9 inches of the zipper uncovered and exposed.
Place a length of duct tape along the long top edge of one of the sides. Lay the zipper right side up on the table. Place the side piece face up on top of the zipper, close to the zipper teeth, and press to secure.
Turn the pouch over (wrong side up) and tape the side to the back of the zipper using duct tape. Apply additional decorative tape to the front or outside of the pouch if desired.
Repeat with the second pouch side. Then trim the ends of the zipper to match the length of the pouch if needed.
Fold the pouch at the zipper so the sides are positioned insides together. Tack the sides and bottom of the pouch together using a few pieces of masking tape.
Tape the sides of the pouch using duct tape. Position one half the width of the tape on the front side of the pouch and fold the other half to the back of the pouch to secure the sides together.
Do the same to close the bottom of the pouch.
Not into alcohol painting? No die cutting machine? Embellish plain store-bought notebooks using heavy paper and ready-to-use stickers or other scrapbooking supplies. Add a coordinating bookmark for fun!
Materials:
- Heavy paper
- Hole punch
- Stickers and other embellishments
- Ribbon, string or twine
- Spray adhesive
Directions:
Cut a piece of faux leather paper, Kraftex paper, or heavy cardstock slightly larger than needed to fit the cover of your notebook. Apply spray adhesive to the back side of your paper and glue it to the notebook.
After the glue dries, open the cover, and trim away the excess using scissors.
Embellish the cover using decorative stickers, decorative tape, or materials of choice.
For each bookmark, cut a rectangle about 2 by 8 inches from your heavy paper and a 2 inch circle from contrasting heavy paper.
Fold the circle in half and insert the rectangle into the fold. Punch a hole through all 3 layers about ½ inch from the end of the bookmark.
Fold an 8 -10 inch piece of ribbon, cord, or string in half and thread the folded end through the hole from the back of the bookmark. Pull the loose ends through the loop and pull the knot (lark’s head knot) snug. Embellish the bookmark using decorative stickers and decorative tape.
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