By Noelle Friedberg

With the beginning of a new semester comes the same dreaded feeling of schoolwork.

We sit in class, reminiscing on all the fun we had over winter break and daydreaming about the upcoming spring break. Monotony quickly sits in. But alas, there is one small way to spice up your school routine. And that way is to collage and decorate your class notebook so that it matches your unique personality and interests. Sounds kind of fun, right? Well it is, trust me.

You will need:

1 notebook or composition book

Pictures from magazines, old calendars, old picture books, travel books etc.

Scissors

Glue

Clear packaging tape

1. Find and cut out all of your pictures. Choose pictures that you find beautiful, that inspire you or that you find amusing. You want your collage to be something you’re going to want to look at every day. You can cut your pictures out any way you like. This could be in straight squares or cool shapes. The most important part of this process, however, is that these pictures will give your notebook a personal and unique flair.

2. Next you must arrange your pictures on your notebook. I have found it works best if you first plan out where you want to glue down all of your pictures before you actually start the gluing. Once you have done that, you can start to apply just enough glue to the back of each picture so that it doesn’t move around too much. What will really hold the pictures down is the packaging tape you are going to apply in the next step.

3. This is the last step before you can sit back and fully admire your handy work. Starting at either the far left or far right side of your notebook, you are going to gently place one long strip of packaging tape from top to bottom. I say gently because you have to proceed with caution in order to make sure the tape is in a straight line. You cannot set it down and lift it up again because it is far too sticky for that. Fold the extra tape over the top and bottom edges of your notebook. Once you have laid the first strip of tape, continue this process until you have covered your collage completely. This layer of tape will allow your pictures to stay nice and fresh looking and prevent any water damage or crumpling to ruin your collage.

Once you become a pro at decorating your notebooks you can start giving them to your friends as gifts. They’re perfect presents because they’re an inexpensive but personal way to give your friend a gift as unique as they are.