Back to School Crafts

Back to School Crafts

I know I know! I do not want the summer to end either but is inevitable and back to school will be here before we blink our eyes!!  I was looking over my kids back to school list and was astounded by how much stuff I need for my three children to start 5th grade, 3rd grade, and Kindergarten!  I decided to take a step back and see what I could do to make this list a little less overwhelming.

First, I took the three lists and combined them into one comprehensive list to keep me better organized.  I was shocked to see it covered an entire side of notebook paper!
Next, I looked around the house to see what items I had already that could be used or reused instead of buying new items.  What items I could "craft" up a bit to make better than new for my kiddos! I found some scossors and plastic folders we will reuse as they are as good as new just as they are.  I found that the kids needed 14 composition books between them!! I was amazed!!  I knew we had some on my daughter's book case, 14 "used books"  so I decided to investigate!  Looking at the composition books we needed to buy for last year I found that ten of them only had 4-5 pages written on.  Seemed like such a waste so....

 

*Notebook Overhaul*

First I went through the books and decided that a couple of them had too much stuff written in the to save or reuse so I put them back on the shelf and was left with 10 that I could work with.  As you can see, they are all in very good shape but have writing on their cover blocks.  I decided to get crafty!

 
Tear out the pages that have writing on them.  Go to the back of the book and the corresponding back pages will need little encouragement to be removed.  (Do this one or two pages at a time.  If you do more than this, you risk tearing out the string that holds the book together :( I learned this the hard way.)

Next, use a printing program, I used Print Shop, to design labels for the front.  I sized them to fit over the existing front label.

Place over the old label and it's as good as new!!

The kids love the little owl, and we saved both money and the environment with this idea!!

*"Toad"ally Fun Toadstool Erasers!*

The kids back to school list includes erasers and we made these a while back and I thought they would be a perfect!  Check out our tutorial for these!

Here are some other ideas I found around the internet that I just might try before school starts too! (The pics and titles are links to the original tutorials!)

*Felt Pencil Case*

 

 *Recycled Juice Pouch Lunch Bags*

*School & Activities Binder* 

*Super Cute Paperclips*

I hope you have fun creating some super cute and personalized back to school supplies for your little ones!!