Keep it Together

On a recent trip to the craft store, I had a breakthrough. I keep buying variations of the same stuff...just ever so slightly different than what I've got in my stash. So I decided in an attempt to simplify the holidays this year, I'm going to use stuff I all ready have. Duh! But at the time it felt like a moment of brilliance. The last thing I need around here are more patterned papers or clips, another shade of glitter, or different types of glue.

I needed something to hold together the 2012 calendars I showed you earlier. So I came up with these spiffy little binder clips. I first tried covering them with fabric, but I think the paper worked better.

I kind of went overboard (are you surprised?) and covered every single binder clip we have in this house. And that's an embarrassing amount of binder clips.

But don't they look nice holding together a calendar? So much cuter than a cold, sad naked binder clip.

It's not much of a tutorial, but here's how I did it:

Step 1: Make a paper template that will fold around the surface of the binder clip.
Step 2: Coat the black part (not the rolled sides, though) with a THIN layer of mod podge. I tried both the matte and the glossy, and I liked the matte a little better. (See what I mean about not needing anything new? I've got all the varieties of mod podge, for crying out loud!)
Step 3: Stick the paper to the glue-covered clip. Hold the paper in place until it sticks.
Step 4: Spread a thin layer of mod podge over the paper to seal it.

Use these little puppies to hold together all the important and not-so-important papers in your life. Or package them up in a cute little box as a fun stocking stuffer. OOH! Or customize them with names or funny sayings for an even more personalized approach.