Back to School: Personalize your Notebook with Marbling

Our children have been very excited to try this technique.  Add a bit of a personal touch to your school notebooks this year!

Materials

• Craft tray
• Shaving foam 
• Liquid watercolour (You can use other forms of paint, we have found this one is quite effective and vibrant.)
• Spatula
• Old butter knife (you could use a popsicle stick or tongue depressor too)
• Scraping tool (we used a ruler, but you could use a popsicle stick or tongue depressor too)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Washi (paper) tape
• Cardstock
• Coil ring notebook
• Labeller (optional)
• Cloths for clean-up (this would be a great craft to do outside!)
• Smock

Directions

• Don your smock to protect your clothes.

• Spray shaving foam to the approximately the size of your paper.

• Smooth out your surface.  We used a spatula.

• Apply droplets of your concentrated liquid watercolour.  If your child is little you may want to put it in small containers and give them a eye dropper to apply it to the foam.  The brand we used has a lid that makes droplets easy.

• Take your knife and pull lines down through the foam.  (You could experiment with other formations as well.)

• Gently apply your paper to the foam/paint.  Peel it off carefully.

• Scrape your ruler across the paper.  Initially your child may need a bit of assistance with this, but once they get the hang of it, it will be easier.  Wash or wipe off your ruler.

• Allow your project to dry overnight.

• Glue it to your notebook cover and cut off any excess edges. (Flip to the inside to make this easy, using the cover as your cutting line.)

• We sewed around the edges to create a bit of detail and then added some Washi tape as well.

• Label with the class, year and your name.

• If you have extras or scraps from cutting the edges, why not punch a hole in the top, loop through some ribbon and make a bookmark!  (We laminated ours for longevity.)

Purpose

• Getting engaged in school related activities
• Experimenting with different techniques

Safety Notes

• As shaving cream is in a pressurized can, exercise care and supervise your child directly in using it.
• Use scissors with care.
• A sewing machine should be used by an adult (if you add this detail).