Gussying up a 2-inch binder

Well it's back to school time again.  Time for those long school supply lists and new clothes, and backpacks, and science calculators... you get the drift.  Anyway, now that I'm the proud owner of some teens and tweens, we have added 2-inch binders added to our lists of things we need. The required 2-inch binders the school requested are plain, boring, and usually only available in two colors (black or white), as opposed to the 1 1/2 in binders, which come in every pretty and/ or sparkly pattern in the known universe. Why the larger binders don't get the same fancy treatment? We may never know.  The girls had the thought last year that we really needed to gussy up our binders by personalizing them. We ended up having so much fun doing it again this year, I thought we'd post about it.  

School Binders - all gussied up and personalized

All you will need for this project is a plain, plastic sleeve binder (of any size), and then scrapbook paper, magazines, old calendars, print outs from the computer, stickers, anything your heart desires. This doesn't have to be just for school kids.  I ended up using this same technique on some plain 3-ring binders for my work as well and they are so pretty to look at now!

I let the girls first pick a "theme" for the binder. We used scrapbook paper in pretty colors to use as a background.  My middle loves leopards, so her was pretty easy to start with. 

She LOOOOOVES leopards.

We ended up using some computer print-outs we had left over from her leopard party, and that strip in the middle binding area is a leopard paper sack lunch bag (we had used them as favor bags at the party). We had an extra one of lying around that we trimmed up and it was put to good use.

Leopards on the inside too! She can put school papers behind the leopard print out, and fun drawings she did in front of it.

Don't forget the inside sleeves!  More leopards and to top it off, we found a leopard pencil holder pouch, which finished off the look.  The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

a few different pages of scrapbook paper in coordinating colors

The other two girls originally just picked pretty scrapbook paper in coordinating colors the first year.

My youngest wanted shades of pink on the inside (but of course), with sparkling folders and a pink pencil pouch to tie everything together.

These folders are a fun way to add some pizzazz and fun into your work or school day.

This year we got a little more fancy!  We still used the scrapbook paper as a background, but added pictures according to the new themes they picked this year.  For my youngest, she loves all things having to do with husky dogs.  Check our her folder this year:

Husky dogs make adorable binder covers

We used an old calendar.  Okay not even an old one, it was THIS YEAR's calendar, and we used all the months up to August.  We also used the tiny thumbnails on the back of the calendar and used the tiny pictures as both the seam down the middle of the binder, and the pockets on the inside. To help keep the smaller pics from sliding around, we taped them to some scrapbook paper to keep them in place under the plastic sleeve.

The scrapbook paper keeps the little pictures in place

Not to mention the scrapbook paper makes it so much easier to slide the smaller pictures down into sleeve area, which can be a tight fit.  It looks adorable now.

And my oldest had immersed herself in all things K-pop (Korean pop music) culture, k-drama, etc. and wanted groups like BTS, NCT, Red Velvet, and Stray kids all over her binder.

I'm sure if your kids are in the BTS "army" right now they are probably gasping all the air out of the room.

Meanwhile, her binder edge she thought some of the band logos would fit nicely down the side.

She was so excited to find these vertical logos for the groups

Even my somewhat boring work folders received a make over too and they are quite enjoyable to look at now throughout the work week. It's a win win for all.  

Such a nice thing to look at during the work day!

 So all and all we had a great time, we used recycled materials or things we had on hand to personalize and gussy up the folders for school.  If they change their mind or want to add to the folder throughout the year it totally up to them and easily adjustable! Happy creating to you and yours!