How to Decorate a Binder

Express your creativity by decorating your binder with a collage of mementos, photos, and things that you love.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Binder with clear plastic cover
• Photographs, greeting cards, fortune cookie slips, candy wrappers and other personal mementos
• Stickers
• Scrapbook embellishments
• Glitter
• Fake flowers
• Ribbon
• Colored markers, pens or pencils
• Glue
• Decoupage medium
• Construction paper or card stock

1. Purchase a binder with a clear, plastic covering. This will allow you to change your decorations later without needing to get rid of the whole binder.
2. Gather together photos, greeting cards, old magazines, fortune cookie inserts, candy wrappers, ticket stubs and other mementos of importance to you.
3. Browse a crafts store for things that you'd like to add to your binder, such as iron- on transfers, beads, fake flowers, ribbon, stickers, scrapbook embellishments and glitter.
4. Go through your collection of printed items and greeting cards, and cut out pictures and words that appeal to you. For example, you may want to look for images or phrases about your favorite band, sport or hobby.
5. Cut a piece of construction paper or card stock to fit the width and length of the binder. Arrange your cut-outs in a collage on the paper until you find a layout you like. Experiment by arranging the items at various angles, and cutting them into assorted shapes.
6. Embellish your cut-outs with glitter, scrapbook items, stickers and other items from a crafts store.
7. Doodle or write on the collage, or on separate pieces of paper that can be added to the collage.
8. Glue the pieces in place. Apply decoupage medium on top of the collage to make the collage last longer and to keep the edges from curling up. Once the glue is dry, carefully slide the paper under the front plastic.