Saturday, October 1, 2011

Vintage Wallpaper Covered Notepads & Pencils

 Last weekend we celebrated my eldest son's 4th birthday with a Jungle Safari party (More posts coming on that later!). I gave some notepads and pencils a make over to fit with the theme, so I thought I'd share the process with you.

Vintage Wallpaper Covered Notepads & Pencils. 

1. Gather your materials

Cover paper. I used a vintage wall paper that I have been hoarding for years.
Glue. I used lampshade glue because the covers of the notepads were a little shiny, and I didn't want    to risk the paper and the cover separating.
Notepads
Scissors
Pencil
Fine nosed pliers

2. Bend the end of the wire coil so that it opens up into a spiral like the rest of the wire.


3. Wind the wire coil out and set aside. Do this to all of the notepads.


4. Trace the cover onto your paper. I noticed that the bottom of each note pad was cut slightly different, so I just decided to go with a rectangle and tidy up the shape later.


5. Apply glue to the notepad cover and invert it face down onto the back of the wall paper.


6. When the glue is sufficiently dried (I went and did a few other things around the house while I waited about 30 mins), turn it face down and using your hole punch (I've had mine for YEARS, but I found one for you here), make a hole where each of the original covers holes are.


7. Replace the cover, and bend the wire coil end back to it's original position.


8. Admire your handy work! :)


I also covered pencils to go with the whole Safari theme  ~ and I loved the result!!! I enjoyed it so much I may even cover a few more in time. :) All I did was use a strip of paper (the receipt from the pencils actually!), cut it to the length of the timber, and then wrapped it around till I had a tight fit for the pencil. I measured it, and cute the strip to that width. I double checked the fit on the pencil (You don't want to have to alter the fit once it is glued on the pencil!!!), and then marked and cut strips from the wall paper to match. I covered the back of the wall paper in PVA since it was going on to bare timber, lay the pencil on top, and rolled it on. Then I smoothed it with my finger to make sure there were no bubbles. And there you have it ~ matching notepads and pencils!  :)


Happy Creating! :)

S xxx

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8 comments :

  1. wow they are too cool!!! Very clever. Like the idea of the lampshade glue. Great tip.
    Happy birthday mister 4. Looking forward to seeing more of the Safari party xx

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  2. Totally love these..so clever and they would make great gifts too :)

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  3. What a great idea! I bet they went down well with the guests.

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  4. WOWZA. Those are just awesome. AND you made it seem like I could actually do it!!! I've tried to do pencils before but I've got super shaky hands and couldn't make it look right. (Just blaming the shaky hands, it could be I also have no skill!) Lovely post, so glad I surfed on over! Jules

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  5. I'm visiting via Strut your stuff Saturday. I love your project and thanks for the excellent tips too.

    Best wishes and happy weekend,
    Natasha @ 5 Minutes Just for Me

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  6. I love this! Great job! I would love it if you would come share this and/or any other projects at the Tuesday Talent Show at Chef In Training! Thanks so much and hope to see you there!
    -Nikki
    http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com

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  7. This is such a clever idea - really love the pencils. Would it be OK to use tissue paper for the pencils?

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