Back-to-School

[lunia.livejournal.com]

Remember when I asked for back-to-school ideas? Here's what I ended up doing. I just had today because I am giving it to him tomorrow.

Stenciled Frank Zappa Notebook progress:


This notebook, ugh. It has a plastic cover so I was pretty sure the paint would easily scratch off and I was right, kind of. You might be able to see some of the scratches and crappy edges. So I decided to keep scratching and got a nice surprise.


I still have a few touch-ups to do, and there is some sticky stuff on it in spots which I will remove, but I think it looks darn fine.

[I know it looks like I did it upside down, but that is a mistake on the notebook's part. The front cover is on upside down, the image is on in the correct direction.]


I also made some bookmarks for him. I just ran cardstock through my laser printer. Not the best result, but they will function well.

I also got him some highlighters, pens, pencils, post-its, a mini red swingline stapler, and some Snyders garlic pretzels, the one snack food he adores. I also got a red plastic container for him to keep all the little doo-dads in. I think he's going to love it all. He loves everything I do - heheee.

You guys were very inspiring. Thank you for all your awesome ideas.

If you are interested in how I made the stencil, please keep reading.

1. I started with this exact image:

and opened it in Adobe PhotoShop

2. Then I cropped it so it was just him and I colored out the girl's chin with some black.

3. Next changed the mode to grayscale

4. Messed with the contrast and brightness a bit

5. Did the cut-out filter

6. Increased image size so it was 11" high

7. Inversed it

8. Brightened it a lot so I would print light gray instead of black to save toner

9. Used spray adhesive to tack the printout to a piece of contact paper

10. Cut out all the dark areas and threw them away

10. Stuck the contact paper to the notebook

11. Stenciled it