I am so excited today to be teaming up with a few of my favorite bloggers to bring you a Back to School Style Guide, with loads of DIY ideas for you to ease you and your kiddos back into school mode. I’ll be sharing a painted pencil pouch with tassels, and you’ll want to visit my friends Amber, Summer, Beth & Alma to see their fab projects! (Links also listed at the bottom of this post.)
When Amber approached me about being part of the Back to School Style Guide, I jumped at the chance because I knew it would get me moving on back to school prep. I remember back to school time as a child and how excited I was to select a new backpack. Well, I am that mean mom who tells my kids if it is still in good shape, there’s no need for a new backpack. So my kiddos will be headed back to school with the same exact backpacks they used last year. My low maintenance child (when it comes to fashion!) Sawyer thinks this is perfectly fine by him- he still loves his backpack. However, Emmy, my little fashionista who tends to wear 3 or 4 outfits in just one day, thinks it’s pretty much a crisis. To ease the pain, I decided to make her a fun and feminine DIY painted and tassel pencil pouch.
I started with simple canvas pencil pouches I found on etsy, gathered fabric paint, yarn in coordinating colors (the pink and mint were thrifted), a foam brush, and a piece of cardboard to fit into the pouches. I had ordered two pouches thinking I would make one for Sawyer, but Emmy had a friend over when I was working on these, so I made them for both girls instead.
Before I painted and decorated, I asked the girls to come up with one word each that they wanted on their pouch. I placed the cardboard inside the pouch to prevent paint seeping through to the other side.
I was striving for fun and imperfect here, not perfection, so I just went for it and free handed these. As you can see below my cardboard was big enough, that I was able to insert it into both pouches at the same time.
White the paint dried, I made my tassels. Believe it or not I had never made a tassel before, but it was really easy. I didn’t need a tutorial because it really is simple and just as you would expect, but just in case I will tell you how I made them.
I started be wrapping my fingers in yarn several times. The more you wrap, the thicker your tassel will be.
Once you have your fingers wrapped to your liking, cut the yarn. Cut another piece of yarn about 6″-12″ long.
Insert the end of your short strand of yarn so it is under all of your wrapping on your hand.
Pull the two ends tight and tie them as tight as you can, binding your loop of wrapped yarn. Remove the yarn from your hand.
Cut your loop at the opposite “side.” (Yes, I know a circle doesn’t have sides, but you get it. Opposite end of the circumference???)
Using the ends of the strand that tied the knot, tie your tassel directly onto your pouch. I had planned to use the zipper, but the key loop seemed like a better option.
Once you tie the tassel on, use another strand of yarn and wrap it around about 1/2″ down from the top of the tassel a couple of times and tie it in a knot. Below you can see the pink one had just been tied onto the ring, and the mint one had been wrapped already. Trim any excess from your strands.
Once they’ve all been tied on, you’re done!
I love the words these sweet girls chose for their pouches. They both chose words to inspire and encourage themselves.
I gave them to the girls with their chosen words of “Dream” and “Love” and asked them to model for me. Of course, after that, I texted my friend (whose daughter was over) and sent her the images as well because I worried she would go home and tell her mom I asked her to model for me and took photos.
Now pop over to see what clever ideas these ladies have for getting back to school in style!
We go back in less than two weeks and I can’t believe how quickly another summer has passed. Someone please stop time. Have your kids gone back already?
