Saturday, August 31, 2013

DIY Binder Covers


(The monograms on mine messed up when I emailed them to my mom so she could print them, oh well!)

For most of you, school has already started. For the rest, it's rapidly approaching. My school starts on the third, and I've spent the past two weeks in a desperate scramble to get everything done. So far, it's been a flurry of clothes shopping, last-minute summer reading, and, of course, searching for school supplies that are both cute and durable. Believe it or not, that task is a lot easier said than done. Luckily, I've created some adorable covers for the front of my binders, and to kick off the start of my new blog, I thought I'd show you how to make them too!


They're personalized, and can be easily altered to look however you want them too! As an example, I'm going to create a binder cover for my Geometry, Honors Biology, and French II binder (I combine three subjects into one 1.5 inch binder to save space in my backpack, since most of our work is done online anyway).


1. Open up Microsoft Word on your computer (Note: This tutorial is being done on a PC, and unfortunately I'm not sure how differently things are set up on Macs. However, all you Mac-users should be able to figure it out on your own, I believe in you!). 
2. Select the "Shapes" button, and draw a large rectangle. Change the "Shape Fill" and "Shape Outline" to whatever you want- I chose pink. 


3. Create a second rectangle inside the first. 
4. In the "Shape Fill" button, select the same color you used for the first rectangle. 
5. In the "Shape Outline" button, select a second color of your choice- I chose white. 
6. Also in the "Shape Outline" button, mouse over the button labeled "Weight", and select "3 pt."


7. Repeat steps 2-6 towards the bottom of the page, but make it considerably smaller. Alter the colors to your liking- I chose green.


8. Now, go back up to the top rectangle and draw a text box.
9. Alter the "Shape Fill" and "Shape Outline" to match the background color. 


10. Using any font you like (I used Cicle Gordita, off FontSquirrel), Type the name of your binder inside the circle. Make sure it's big enough to be read easily (I used size 42), and centered. 


11. Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the smaller rectangle towards the bottom of the page. 
12. Using the same font you used for the title, type your first and last name. 


13. You're almost done! Now find a monogram font that you like (I used Monogram KK Font, off dafont.com).
14. In the middle of the page, draw a large text box. Using a size 300 font, press "Shift" and type your last initial. Change the color to whatever you would like- I chose orange


15. Create a second text box to the left and slightly above your last initial, and type your first initial in size 300, but without pressing "Shift" (it will still be uppercase, but will be smaller and the perfect size for your monogram!) Change the color to match your last initial
16. Repeat step 15 on the right side, and using your middle initial. 


And there you have it! No more scribbling "English" across your binder in Sharpie. You now have a way to create cute, personalized covers for all of your binders! 


About Me

Hi there!
Welcome to The Kat in the Hat! I'm Katie, Kat, Kathryn (I respond to all three ;)).

Yup...that's me in a nutshell-I also love the beach, as you can see below

I really, really love the beach

I have a passion for food, nutrition, and cooking, and I promise to provide you with recipes that range from completely guilt-free to absolutely sinful!

Sometimes they don't exactly work out... (the product of my 14th birthday party)

Other times they work out quite nicely :)
(Just let the record show that my best friend and I made these in seventh grade, and they are a result of 6 hours of pure torture. And yes, the snowman next to Santa is sleeping on the job. Such a shame.)

Navigating the pages on my blog:
About: You're here! Congrats
Blogroll: Blogs I love, and hope you will too!
Food: Recipes and other food-related goodness
Health: Fitness and nutrition
Home Page: Self-explanatory 
Life: Posts about my (incredibly exciting ;)) daily life
School: Everything you need to survive the worst four years of your life (yay high school!)


Want to get in touch with me?
Comments, questions, concerns, business inquiries, and anything else you want to share with me can be done so by emailing thekatinthehat17@gmail.com

I don't have any sort of mailing address or P.O. box to share with you at the moment, but I'm working on getting that changed as quickly as possible!


Have a great day, and happy reading! xoxo :)





Blogroll

You know that feeling when you find something after you've spent forever looking for it? Well that's the feeling I get when I find a new blog to follow. I'm fairly picky about them, so it takes me a while before I find one that I truly love. So far, these are the blogs that I follow, and I'm obsessed with every one of them!

Lifestyle
The Bloggess. Author of "Let's Pretend This Never Happened," Jenny is absolutely hilarious! I swear this woman is secretly a five year old, because this blog is wonderfully immature. When I first discovered it, I spent the entire day scrolling through page after page of posts. My personal favorites are her conversations with her husband, Victor. Also, make sure to check out her story about Beyonce the chicken-I couldn't stop laughing!




The Londoner. A ridiculously chic blog about a lovely woman living in London, I'm a little obsessed with this one. I haven't yet made her infamous Slutty Brownies, but something tells me I'll be whipping up a batch in the near future ;). Seriously, Rosie is a wonderful person and a great writer!





 Humans of New York. I have a strange fascination with the big apple, meaning this website is a good way to waste away the entire day. Brandon photographs people from all walks of life living in New York City, posting a simple interview with each one. This blog is incredibly moving and inspirational, and I made an entire post on it here. 



DIY/Style


College Prep. I love Carly! She is a classy, preppy college student who describes herself as a "quirky, type A workaholic" which fits her perfectly! Her blog is great for DIY tips, style inspiration, and everything in between






Goldfish Kiss. Style, beauty, DIY, and fitness, Rebekah has a great blog about her life in Hawaii, but has recently moved to Seattle (quite the change!) Even though she doesn't live on the beach anymore, her blog is great for some tropical vacation-inspiration!





Cooking/Food

Eat Yourself Skinny. I have made sooo many of Kelly's recipes. Her blog is devoted to delicious, healthy food you're sure to love! Even though I don't count calories, for those of you that do, she provides not only nutritional information and weight watchers points, but serving sizes. Not just "100 calories for 1/4 of the recipe" but "100 calories for 1/2 cup." So far, I my favorites are chicken piccata, herb crusted pork chops, pork chops with balsamic peppers, and mini pumpkin swirl cheesecakes! 



Skinnytaste. I think Gina is some sort of healthy recipe wizard, because she is just too good at coming up with healthy yet yummy meals! Everyone in my family is absolutely obsessed with her healthy baked chicken nuggets. These things taste exactly like Tyson chicken nuggets, only 50x better for you! Seriously, I can't get enough of this blog. 






Fit Personality. This tumblog is awesome-Katy Grace is such a sweet, wonderful person! After going through a weight loss transformation, she created a blog all about fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. However, she shows you how to make it really enjoyable! I love how she has said she "doesn't like labels" when it comes to being a vegetarian, vegan, etc, because I totally agree with her! Not to mention she goes to the University of Hawaii, and I'm insanely jealous ;)