DIY Personalized School Supplies

As someone who loves paper, stationery, and pens, it baffles me that both of my children couldn’t care less about buying their school supplies. When choosing their binders and notebooks, they just randomly grab whatever is closest on the shelf and throw them into the cart, regardless of color or anything else. So, when one of their female pals asked me for help decorating her school supplies, I was totally on board. Here is how we took a bunch of plain, “normal” notebooks and locker decor and turned them into fabulous DIY Personalized School Supplies!

LOCKER MIRROR AND NOTE BOARD

You’ll need:

A mirror and/or whiteboard

Washi Tape

Scissors

This little mirror and whiteboard set from Target was a real bargain, but the mirror had some black scratches on the frame. We fixed it right up with this pretty rose gold floral washi tape! All we did was line up one side of the washi tape with the inside edge of the frame and press the tape down firmly. Then, we carefully trimmed the edges of the tape to follow the curves of the frame. We repeated on all four sides as well as on the whiteboard. You can use any design and brand of tape you like; ours was part of the Maggie Holmes floral set from Paper Source. The set also contains a roll of tape with short typed phrases including, “grow your own joy,” and “you are loved.” We cut these messages out and stuck one on the mirror and one on the white board as positive reminders throughout the day.

SPIRAL NOTEBOOKS

You’ll need:

Spiral notebooks

Washi tape

Scissors

These three notebooks started out as solid colors; one pink and two yellow. My little friend chose different designs of tape for each one and we applied the tape in long vertical strips, starting right next to the spirals and continuing to the other edge until the entire front was covered. We didn’t cut the tape right at the top and bottom edges; instead, we folded about 1/2″ of excess tape around the cover and stuck the ends to the back. For two of the notebooks, we repeated one kind of tape on the whole cover, while on the third, she decided to alternate between black and white striped tape and a lemon pattern. I think that one is my favorite! Once again, you can use any colors and styles of tape you like best to make these totally personalized.

COMPOSITION BOOKS

You’ll need:

Composition books

Washi Tape

Scissors

Once again, these notebooks were solid colors when we started. For the pink notebook, my friend decided to use another floral design from the Maggie Holmes Floral set we bought at Paper Source. The pink in the flowers coordinated with the pink of the notebook’s original cover. We started right next to the spine binding and applied the tape in long vertical strips across the front cover. Once again, we wrapped about 1/2″ of tape around the cover and stuck it to the back to make sure it wouldn’t peel off with daily use. We also cut two more of the little messages from our typed words tape roll and stuck them on top of the floral tape.

For the purple notebook, we alternated between two strips of purple glitter tape and one strip of very thin pastel purple tape. This time, we covered the binding too, filling the entire front cover with our design. Even after personalizing all of her supplies, we had plenty of washi tape left over for other projects, like the DIY Locker Magnets I shared on WBAL TV 11 this weekend. (Check out the video here!)

I love how these supplies turned out! Each one is totally original and expresses the personality of my sweet, beautiful, and just a little sassy 6th grade friend. She is one-of-a-kind and now her school supplies are too. Have you ever decorated something with washi tape? Share it with us in the Amy Latta and Friends Facebook group!

Don’t forget, if you like this idea, put a Pin on it for later and share with a friend!