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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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

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.

I left them to sit over night and now they are ready to go. I'm looking forward to my little artists filling the pages.