Putting a Personalized Cover on a Sketch Pad

I get to teach art to the grandchildren that live close by. In preparation for our time together (and give them a sense of gravity and grown-upness) I decided to recover the sketch pads, to easily distinguish them, and make them better looking.

Step 1:

I let each child choose which color they wanted their sketch pad to be. Then I sized the paper to fit the pad with an overlap. Laying the cover flat to the table, I used neutral pH glue and brushed it over the whole front of the sketch pad cover all the way to the edges.

Step 2:

Setting the paper to the edge of the book's rings I smoothed the paper over and used the side of an old gift card to work out any air bubbles or excess of glue. I worked the fold over to the inside of the cover in the same way.

Step 3:

I had made the sticker components for each child' name at the Tech Shop http://www.techshop.com with the vinyl cover. I chose an easy font (Comic Sans) from Corel Draw and had also made ovals. The Tech Shop has a nice variety of vinyl colors for sale right there for a reasonable price. Once the names were cut by the machine, I removed the excess vinyl and used adhesive tape to hold the spacing of the name. I attached the name to the ovals. The kids consider the name sticker to be the best part of the cover.

Step 4:

I attached the name ovals to the front of the covers.

Step 5:

I put a piece of masonite board - smooth side facing the cover - on top of the sketch pad. And placed bricks on top to give the weight and pressure needed to make it all lie flat.