Notebooks, Pencil Cases, Backpacks, and More
- Pin
- Share
Back-to-school season can be an exciting, albeit hectic time. Every year brings a new list of school supplies, and these can quickly add up. This year, save money and get crafty instead. These easy ideas are a fantastic way to personalize your school or office supplies, and just wait for the compliments to pour in from your peers.
DIY Embroidery Backpack Patches
Make your embroidery patches to stitch onto your backpack (or jacket). There are 4 methods to this DIY project, so pick your favorite, choose your patch, and personalize your bag.
DIY Eyelet Bound Notebooks
You stare at your notebook every day during the school year, so why not make it something you love? This year make your own notebooks for you or your kids. For this DIY, bind together sheets of paper with eyelets for some stylish school supplies that fit perfectly into a three-ring binder.
DIY Glitter Bow Locker Magnets
Before your teenager returns to school this fall, spend a summer afternoon making glittery magnets that they can use to decorate their locker. These easy to magnets are a great way for your teen to personalize their locker and will come in handy too as they can use them to hang things such as their class schedule on their locker wall.
DIY Gold Leaf Brushed Clipboards
Break out the paint and gold leaf to refinish your old school clipboard for school this year.
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
I gathered all of these supplies with plans to make a fun and decorative back to school supply “cake”. I wanted something that would serve as a centerpiece for a back to school table I would be setting for my granddaughters’ upcoming visit.
I used three cake “dummies” for this project, but you could also use cardboard boxes either round or square. If you find some decorative boxes, they could also be filled with school supplies!
The dummies I used were 6″, 8″ and 10″. Each of them was 4″ high. I have included links to them in the supply list at the bottom of this post. I wrapped the top half of the styrofoam dummies with blue duct tape.
The first step was to stretch a large elastic rubber band around the styrofoam cake. This is the 10″ dummy circle.
I used ten boxes of 24 Crayola crayons. I tucked the crayons, one box at a time inside of the rubber band.
If you use the same boxes of crayons and the same size cake dummy, you will find that there will be a gap that is not quite large enough for that eleventh box of crayons.
I adjusted the crayons so that I had two equal size gaps on opposite sides of the “cake” and tucked a pair of child size Fiskars scissors into each of those gaps.
Between the middle and the top layer, the white showed more than I wanted, so I cut a circle of yellow card stock and glued it to the top of the middle layer to disguise it.
I finished this layer the same way as the bottom layer with the tape, and the rubber band, but this time the school supply added was glue sticks. To finish off the cake, I took a ribbon and wrapped it around each layer, hiding the rubber bands.
For my top layer I selected bright colored pencils and repeated the same process. If you want your cake layers to be secure to one another, you can use several wooden skewers to stick each layer to the layer above it.
I found this cute little pencil cup that I think any teacher might use on their desk! This will be my cake topper!
Here are all of my layers of my cake ready to be assembled!
Here is my cake, all assembled and ready to star as the centerpiece at a fun back to school table!
This is a cake that can serve as a centerpiece for a back to school luncheon or dessert for kids heading back to school, or for a special teacher. What a great gift this would make for an elementary school teacher after the past year.
SUPPLIES:
If you would like to try this Back to School Crayon Wreath, you can get the full tutorial by clicking on this link: Crayon Wreath.
Pack a Pencil Case for School
Clean Your Pencil Case
Be Organized in School
Organise Your Pencil Case
Organize Your Room and School Work (for Teens)
Get Organized in High School
Save Paper in School
Organize Your School Supplies
Stay Organized at School (for Girls)
Organize School Work
Buy School Supplies for High School
Buy School Supplies
Have Stylish School Supplies
Make a School Supplies List
Decorate School Supplies
How to Decorate School Books – wikiHow
Determine What School Supplies You Need as a High School Freshman