Fun Composition Notebooks!

This is the best time of year to stock up on those Composition Notebooks – they go on sale, so grab a bunch.  They might be kind of plain, but with some patterned vinyl from Expressions Vinyl, they get a whole new look!  And then if you really want to step it up, you can add the child’s name:

How to Vinyl Custom Composition Notebooks

So, first off, if you want to just cover the ugly part of the notebook and not do the name, you can totally do this with just an exacto knife – no need for a cutting machine:

Here’s a before and after of what some fun patterned vinyl can do to transform the notebook:

How to use Offset on Silhouette Machine Software

Now, if you are wanting to do a name, since letters are more intricate, you’ll probably want a cutting machine (although if you’re patient and/or crazy you could probably hand-cut a name).  I want to show you a trick I used called “Offset” when using my Silhouette Cameo.  See above how the name kind of runs in with the background.  I thought it’d be nice to have a barrier of white vinyl around the name, and it turns out it’s super simple to do.  You can see the difference here – on “Emmy” I used the Offset Feature and there is a layer of white vinyl under the name.

So – type out what you want, like so (I love the Silhouette because you can use all the fonts you have already on your computer) – –

Then just hit the “Offset” Button – it’s the one I circled below – – and then click “offset” – – it’ll look weird at first – –

But, then drag the offset section away from the words and you’ll see that it’s perfect.

I had the background of herringbone vinyl, then the offset of white, and the name in glitter.  Oh yeah.

How to layer Vinyl

Layer it all together – –

And then stick it on – – voila!  That offset added just the slight emphasis that I was looking for:

Whether you cut with a machine or by hand, this is a fun project to involve your kiddos with – let them pick the vinyl color, where to place the name, push on the vinyl, etc.  Fun fun!