Vamp Up Your Notebooks

Because here at CC, we're just not ok with boring.

Recently I went to my favorite place on earth, Target, to pick up an agenda for the upcoming school year. And there were no colorful ones. None. However, this sad sad issue did present me with a cool DIY opportunity!

Following my personal motto (when in doubt, spray paint it out), I whipped out my cans of spray paint and got to work. This method is fairly easy, takes barely any time (about a half hour total), and creates unique school supplies that nobody else will have! 

Cheers,

Jacqueline

Materials:

• spray paint in the color of your choice
• exacto knife
• blue painter's tape
• a Sharpie or pen

 1. Choose your design. I'm really into arrows recently, so I decided to add some crossed arrows to my agenda. 

Once you've decided what you'd like to make, draw out your design on painter's tape.

(Yes, I couldn't find a cutting board, so I'm doing this on an old yearbook from high school!)

 2. Using your exacto knife, cut along the outside of the design. Carefully peel out the tape in the inside, creating a stencil for your spray paint.

 3. Place your stencil on your notebook. Once the tape is where you'd like it to be, press down really hard to ensure that every edge is stuck to your notebook.

 4. Cover up the rest of the notebook with painter's tape to make sure you don't get any spray paint on it! 

To be sure I didn't get any paint on the sides, I made my strips of tape slightly longer than the edge of the book.

 5. Outside, apply a thin coat of spray paint, holding your can about a foot and a half away from the stencil. Wait for about 30 seconds, then apply another coat. 

Repeat as many times as it takes to get your paint as opaque as you'd like it to be.

 6. Resist the immediate temptation to peel away the tape! Wait for at least an hour to really make sure the paint is dry, and peel away all your tape. If you take off the tape when the paint is still wet, the design will probably smear!

(If the surface of your notebook is hard, and you have several imperfections, you can take the exacto knife and lightly scrape them away.)

Ta da! Your notebook is all done. And way cooler than everyone else's.