Downloading fonts.

Cutting coupons.

Wandering the back to school aisles.

If I had to guess, I’d say that these take up about 30% of my life…probably more, but I refuse to admit it. Recently, the back to school aisles have been calling my name. It’s the same story every year when fall comes around. I just can’t say no to pretty notebooks, pens and office accessories. I just can’t. I know you have the same problem. I know it.

Thankfully, my penchant for DIYing means I can make most any of those pretty back to school products right here at home…and today I’m doing just that with the help of the nifty Cricut Explore. I’ve had my machine since January and I’ve used it way more than any other electronic cutting machine I’ve owned. And I’ve owned them all. My favorite feature of the Explore is the huge range of materials it’ll cut…including leather. Yep, leather. Thick leather, too!

With my love of school supplies in mind, I used my Explore to create a duo of super stylish notebooks and a monogrammed leather business card holder. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these pretties.

{1} Since the Cricut Explore will cut your .svg files, I designed one of my own. Once I created the cut file, I uploaded it to Cricut Design Space  and cut it from tooling leather, which is a firm leather that you can find at your craft store. The Explore offers a ton of custom settings and one of them is for “Thick Leather.” I used this setting along with my deep cut blade to cut through the leather.

{2} With the cut finished, I wanted to open up the tiny holes along the edge of the leather. I used a small hole punch to poke these out.

{3} Last up, I stitched the two panels together with some bright pink embroidery floss.

I added a simple leather monogram to the card holder. This particular monogram measures about 3/4″ high. I was really happy with how the machine cut a leather shape this small.

Now of course, I could not leave well enough alone and stop there. Usually once, I start Cricutting, I don’t stop. This time around, I pulled out my favorite: gold glitter iron-on. I keep at least three rolls of this stuff on hand at all times. No joke. I decided to use it in an unexpected way …

Not sure if I’m the first to think of this…and I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner, but I’m oh so happy I did! The adhesive from the iron-on glitter works beautifully on paper, making it really easy to create a full sheet of glittery polka dots like this one.

You can follow THIS tutorial to learn how to add a colorful elastic closure to your finished notebook. It’s easy. I love how these neon elastics pop against the kraft and gold notebook cover.

And now that you’ve created these pretty notebooks and card holder, you may be in the mood to make something for holding everything. I’ve got you covered. Check out the monogram pencil pouch tutorial from the archives!