I've recently gone back to college, which means I'm back to being a poor student, which means all my friends/family received personalized and thoughtful gifts this year- aka homemade presents. Baker, whether she will readily admit to it or not, is a really great artist, and I try to encourage her as often as possible to draw or paint. In keeping with that encouragement I made her a sketchbook for Christmas, which is less handy and much easier to do than it sounds! The hardest part was picking out a fabric I thought Baker would like, and when in doubt- put an owl on it.
What you'll need:
-a sketchbook (mine was hardback, but any will do as long as it isn't spiral bound)
-fabric (cut to fit the size of your sketchbook with 1in leftover on each side)
-spray adhesive
-fabric scissors
-an iron
-iron on details (optional)
How to do it:
1. Iron your fabric so that there are no creases. I know, ironing is dumb. I don't even own one because my idea of "getting the wrinkles out" is throwing a shirt in the dryer for a couple minutes with a damp cloth. That works, by the way. However, this is an important step so that your fabric isn't all wrinkled. If you have an iron on decal, like I did, go ahead and iron that onto your fabric too by following the directions that come with the decal. Make sure you've lined up the decal with where you want it on the sketchbook so that when you attach it to the fabric and attach the fabric to your book its in the right place.
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| an iron. obviously. |
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| the owl. |
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| my chosen pattern. like it a lot. |
2. Lay your fabric out print side down onto a surface that you don't mind getting a bit dirty. I used an open cardboard box on my kitchen table. Spray the fabric with your spray adhesive. Wait 5 or so seconds and place the open sketchbook into the middle of the fabric- leaving about an inch around each edge. Immediately close the book and smooth the fabric over the cover, removing and bubbles. Place your book under something heavy for 10 minutes. I used a glass cake stand, sans the cake.
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| see the leftover? |
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the many uses of a cake stand.
3. When I made fabric-covered journals (I use composition notebooks) I cut the extra fabric from around the edges, but because this sketchbook was thicker I just folded the edges around. You can finish it off by using a hot-glue gun to adhere a piece of paper to the inside that would cover up your rough edges, but I skipped that step because I'd cut the fabric too small and didn't have enough around one edge to make the paper idea work.. sorry Baker. And voila, a personalized sketchbook (or journal.) In addition to iron-ons, you could use any type of decal. I used chipboard letters to decorate the gratitude journals (this blue one is mine) I made for other friends.. also a Christmas gift. |
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| the finished project! |
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| my gratitude journal, a covered composition notebook |
There you have it. Hope this isn't as boring as I feel like it is. Maybe Baker will post something soon and liven things up! I had the cutest outfit on today! Should've posted that. Next time.
-D
Another outfit post. This weather has been apocalyptic lately. It feels like spring some days while dropping into the 40s on other days.
Outfit Details: Hat/H&M, Pullover/Target, T-shirt+shorts/Pac Sun, Shoes/Sam Edelman.
Outfit Details: Beanie/DIY, Sweater/Old Navy, Leather Jacket/Urban, Scarf+Denim Leggings/Pac Sun, Shoes/Jeffrey Campbell.
