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Hi friends! My little Diva is starting a new school this year, and although she’s super excited about it, I know that she’s nervous too. Oh, she won’t admit to it, but we moms just know these things! 

She’s been busy organizing her school supplies, and she came up with a wonderful and extremely easy way to personalize them. It’s funny because I never would have thought of this, but when my daughter showed me how to decorate school supplies with washi tape, I thought it was the cutest craft ever.

So of course, I just had to share them with you!

washi tape covered pencils and binder clips and bookmark


Back in the Dark Ages when I was in grade school, we didn’t have washi tape or anything fancy for jazzing up school supplies. I think we were pretty much limited to fuzzy eraser tops and whatever art we created by drawing all over our folders and notebooks. But hey, somehow, we miraculously managed to survive.

Still, I think this is so cute. It almost makes me want to go back to school again so that I can enjoy pretty pencils and everything else. Well almost, but not quite — been there, done that!

So if you want to personalize your kids’ school supplies, or even your own school supplies with washi tape, I’ve got a quick and very easy tutorial for you.

Here are the supplies you’ll need

  • Washi tape or any patterned tape
  • Pencils
  • Note cards
  • Binder clips
  • Scissors
scissors and pencils and binder clips and note cards


For the pencils, my daughter just used long strips of washi tape to cover the entire pencil, from the eraser to the tip. Then, she cut the tape with scissors, and to make the edges neater, she sharpened the pencil with a pencil sharpener.

cover wood pencil with strips of washi tape


On one of the pencils, she just wound short strips of washi tape horizontally around the pencil.

washi tape pencils


She also made a bookmark by covering up a note card with strips of washi tape. It looks like a laminated bookmark, and since it’s nice and bright, my daughter has no trouble finding it.

washi tape bookmark


Plain binder clips are pretty boring, but the Diva made them a little bit better by wrapping small strips of tape around each clip.

washi tape binder clips


You could probably decorate binders, folders and pencil boxes with washi tape too, but we’re waiting to see what other school supplies we need before we go out and buy any more.

I don’t know about you, but I always like to hear from the teachers before I buy a bunch of stuff that we may not need. It just saves a little money, and I’m all about that, especially when we’re talking about back to school shopping for five kiddos!

At least my daughter will have no trouble knowing which school supplies belong to her, and I just may decide to decorate some of my office supplies with washi tape!

As always, thanks so much for your visit!

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  1. Dee M says:

    Yes — I remember the troll toppers. They were so cute! 🙂

  2. Dee M says:

    Thanks! I'm glad that my kids like to create things — they actually teach me things now! 🙂

  3. Dee M says:

    Oh, I agree — anyone would love decorating school supplies like this. I even want to make some new designs for my office supplies! 🙂

  4. Dee M says:

    Exactly — my daughter has already shown me how easy it is to remove!

  5. Bev Feldman says:

    Your daughter is so creative! I would have loved dong something like this as a kid; alas, no washi tape back then. I think the most exciting thing was my troll doll pencil topper. Pinning! Stopping by from SITS.

  6. Julia Nyanyo says:

    Washi tape is such fun stuff, and it's so nice when the kids can do there own personalising of their things. Best bit, if it gets a bit tatty or she gets fed up it's so easy to pull that off and pop on some new tape.

  7. patty a romack says:

    What a cool and creative idea that I'm sure my kids will love! Even though we home school, I still like to give the kids a chance to pick out supplies and mark their own stuff, so they'll be thrilled when I share this idea with them! Thanks for sharing. Happy Saturday ShareFest!

  8. Rebecca Mclellan says:

    Just love school supplies and this is very creative. A way to personalize your own supplies. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from Sits Girls.

  9. Dee M says:

    Thanks, Alison. My daughter will be thrilled to hear this. 🙂

  10. Dee M says:

    Thanks so much, Mimi. I'm happy to help! 🙂