TT: The first day of school!

As a kid, the first day of school was one of my FAVORITE days of the year.  I think it may have fallen just behind Halloween.  I loved school as a kid, and I loved the feeling of a fresh start I got every year.  There was nothing quite like new pencils, crayons, notebooks full of fresh, blank paper.  The whole year ahead was just like that, a nice clean blank slate.  Anything could happen!

However, that was LONG before the internet, and I tended toward the more obvious trends as a child.  As a family with not a lot of money to go around, I wish I’d had the benefit of the unique and fun DiY projects to supplement my supplies as a kid.  So I went on a hunt… what would I have loved to be able to do when I was young?

This AMAZING and beautiful DiY backpack from Ashley Ann DiY is something I would have sold my soul for as a kid.  Heck, I’d dig one of those right now!  It would have been really easy in my household as a kid to embellish an existing pack for a little more use.  And if I changed my mind, well, I could change up the bag, too!  There are so many options!  Just a handful of fabric out of the stash and a few little odds and ends can really create a new look.

Oh, those whiteboards!  We were still using chalkboards and chalk when I was a kid, but these would have been an utter delight.  And there’s no reason to pay a couple of dollars each at even big box stores, just hit up Home Depot!  There you can buy a large sheet of tileboard or showerboard (it’s the same thing, that sheet with a shiny white plastic side!) and have it cut to the sizes you like.  Maybe you like that big board the way it is?  Set it up against a wall and go at it!  Willing to go fairly permanent with something?  Grab chalkboard paint or the newest awesome paint – you guessed it – whiteboard paint!  Slather up a wall with that and get crazy!

How about some completely original, unique notebooks?  How about making them from cereal boxes?  The Long Thread has instructions for creating these adorable little 16 page notebooks.  The cardboard on the outside is fine, but why not get crazy and leave the cereal box labels on the outside?  Still super fun!   Great for creating little notebooks, sketchbooks, or even making your own storybooks!  Keep this in mind for book reports, too!

There’s just a few easy ideas for some fun back to school projects.  What else can you come up with?

Tags: crafting, creativity, fashion, DiY, frugality, school