DIY Notebook

Tomorrow I start school, so I'm quickly decorating my notebooks! I've decided to share with you a really cute, but simple, way to do it.

All you need is a notebook, Mod Podge, a paint brush, scissors, and either an image, or a piece of copypaper and paint.

To start, either paint your design on a seperate sheet of paper just in case you mess up, or you can just print one out on the computer. I painted mine, so if you're interested, I used a fan paint brush, and just made horizontal squiggly lines, switching up colors. I left some space in between each color, so the paints didn't mix, but also, I like the effect it gives, in addition to the textured paintbrush. If you do paint anything, be sure to place a heavy book [feel free to use your school textbooks ;( ] ontop of it, so it doesn't curl up. 

To apply the paper to the notebook, first stick the paper upside down, and trace the size of the notebook on the back in pencil, then cut it out, so it fits nicely. Next, apply mod podge to the entire cover of the notebook, then place the paper down, and let it dry. Now is the time to punch out the holes. If you have a hole punch, use it, but if not, get help from an adult to use an Xacto knife and cut out each circle. Once it is dry, cover the top with mod podge to seal everything in place. 

That is all to it! Enjoy! And good luck at school!

DIY Clay Pen

In today's blogpost, I will show you two ways to make a pen from mostly things you can find in your home. Perfect for all your back to school needs!

For this craft, you'll need clay (I really like my Crayola Air Dry tub from Target),

paint/brushes, etc. and optional glitter, finishing gloss spray, a plastic knife, a plastic straw, and depending on what way you make your pen, you'll need either a toothpick, or a pen with removable ink part.

To start, take your piece of clay, and roll it into a cylinder. Then, take your straw, and poke it through the center of the clay cylinder to hollow out the middle. Take your knife and cut one end so it has a clean edge. 

On the other side, make the hole a bit smaller, so the ink and the point part will comfortably fit without falling out, but then take the ink out so it doesn't stick, and dry with it in there. 

If you are doing the toothpick way, you don't even need to hollow it out. Just make the cylinder, cut off the end to smooth it out, then use a toothpick and stick it in the other end. 

Get your fingers a little wet, and gently rub the cracks, so the clay smooths out the pen.

Now let it dry, or put it in the oven, depending on the instructions on the clay package. 

Once it is dry and hardened, paint it in any way you'd like, and spray a finishing gloss over it. 

Then, poke either your ink pen part, or the toothpick in, and use! The ink way is more reliable, but the toothpick is fun to use, by dipping it in paint and writing the old fashioned way! Another cool way might be to use led refills from mechanical pencils, instead, but I haven't tried it yet, so use your own CREATIVITY! 

Liquid 'Under the Sea' Notebook

As school is quickly approaching, everyone asks me, "Are you excited to go back to school?" And my response every time is, "I'm not excited to go to school but I'm excited to make my school supplies." I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys decorating their supplies, so today I'll show you how to make a liquid notebook. These are very popular recently (among teen crafters at least), so it is not my original technique, but it's so cool and I made a variation to look like the ocean/aquarium. Also, this didn't take me long to make, (just like a few hours), but it is more difficult than most of my other crafts, so beware.

Before you begin, you'll need a notebook, an Xacto knife/craft knife, scissors, 4 tablespoons baby oil, 1/2 yard clear vinyl (it's really inexpensive at Walmart at the fabric cutting counter. Also, I didn't know what thickness to get, so I got 1/2 yard of each, but the thin one is the one I used and works well), parchment paper, glitter and ocean stickers (I got my cute ones from Walmart scrapbooking section), an iron and ironing board, blue food coloring, about 12 tablespoons of water, Tacky Glue, one sheet of white cardstock, paper towels, and optional: paint to cover notebook.

The first step is to cut out two sheets of clear vinyl in the size of your notebook. Then, take your notebook cover, and cut a rectangle out of the middle using your craft knife, and use that center rectangle as a guide to cut out two pieces of parchment paper that size so it will be the size of the window opening. Now, if you'd like to paint your cover of the notebook, do it now. I learned that you'll need a few coats to cover the background entirely, but be sure to put paper towels down so you don't ruin any of the pages inside, etc..
Now take your iron and ironing board and set it to a medium to low heat setting. I found that if its too hot, the plastic will become all wrinkly, but if it's too low, it won't seal well enough. Place your two pieces of parchment paper that are the size of your window and place them in between the two vinyl pieces, then sandwich the vinyl in between two pieces of parchment paper that are larger than the vinyl pieces. Now iron 3 OUT OF THE FOUR SIDES OF VINYL!!! Make sure to only iron up to the small pieces of parchment paper, using the tip of the iron, so the window stays the right size. Once the three and only three sides are ironed, they are melted together, but put your vinyl opening under the sink faucet and run some water in it to make sure there are no holes. If there are, I reccomend cutting out more vinyl and re ironing.
Now, mix 4 tablespoons of baby oil in one cup, then in another cup, mix about 12 (or less) tablespoons of water with one drop of blue food coloring. Now dump them both in the vinyl bag thing and add the glitter!!! After that, you'll need to melt the last opening shut. You still need the parchment paper sandwiching the opening, but be sure not to iron where the liquid is. My mom helped me with this part by holding the vinyl off the edge of the ironing board, and me ironing it shut so it doesn't have to lay flat (because the water will spill out). I ironed a little bit farther down on the top so I could add a sun sticker, etc..
Once it is all sealed, cut out a piece of white cardstock the size of the notebook, and decorate it with your fun beach stickers. Then take Tacky Glue and glue the water pouch vinyl thing to the inside of the front cover, and glue the sticker scene behind that. Remember that Tacky Glue has to dry over night.

This is a fun project and it's very fun to play with!!!! Hopefully it will make school a little more enjoyable! 

DIY Painting Sponge Stippler

Before I made this craft, I didn't know what a sponge stippler was, I always thought of it as a sponge circle dotting tool paintbrush thing, so in case you don't know what it is, it's the foam paintbrushes that paint a perfect circle. 

They are very inexpensive; you can buy a pack of 10, in an assortment of sizes, for like less than $5, but I can make as many as I want in different sizes from home, using only materials that I already had, so that should save you some money, plus it's fun!

What you'll need is a Popsicle stick (to be the handle, so you'll need as many as you want to make), a small piece of craft foam (any thickness will work, but I recommend between an inch to 1/2 inch), a hot glue gun, a geometric compass, and a marker.

To start, take your piece of foam, and use your compass to make a perfect circle, the size you want, then since the pencil on the compass won't show up on the foam well, use the marker to go over the circle. Now, cut out the circle of foam, and fold it in half, and use some scissors to cut out a tiny piece of the foam in the center (NOT GOING ALL THE WAY THROUGH) to be the spot for the Popsicle stick. Use your hot glue gun and glue in that little indent, and hold your Popsicle stick there until it dries for a few seconds, but don't push it down into the sponge too much. Then add a little bit of hot glue around the Popsicle stick opening for security, and you're good to go.

When using it, dab your sponge tool in the paint, and rotate it to get an even layer around the whole thing. Sponge a little bit on a practice paper to remove the excess. To apply, push down on the real paper and spin to again, even out the paint. Rinse it out when you're done!

That's all to it! Here I made a little birthday card showing how I used the sponge thing for balloons, but just to let y'all know, it's not my birthday ;)