DIY Travel Art Case

Sitting in traffic sucks. It especially sucks when you have two kids in the back seat but only one notepad and pen to keep them occupied. 

That happened to us a couple weeks ago when we were on our way to the fair and I realized that I needed to find a better way to help the kids pass the time. That's when I did a little pinning and found the idea to transform DVD cases into little art stations! 

It took about 20 minutes per case and required no special skills or knowledge. 

If you want to make one here's what you'll need:

DVD case you can use an old one or buy a 10 pack at the store

Exacto Knife or something equally sharp

Cutting Mat trust me, you don't want to cut your table

Spray adhesive

Hot glue gun

Cardboard approximately 5x7 is enough

Fabric enough to cover the cardboard one and a half times

Paper cutter 

Iron and ironing board if you want wrinkle-free fabric

Scissors

Scrapbook paper one sheet to decorate the cover 

Printer paper

Colored pencils Each case can fit about 10 colored pencils

Once you have your supplies and a space cleared off you get to start cutting.

First, carefully cut the plastic cover off the side with the DVD holder. that way when you cut out the next part, you don't ruin it. I tried to skip this step. I ruined a DVD case.

 

Now use your exacto knife and cut out the DVD holder. If you don't, you won't have room for your colored pencils. I didn't try to skip this step, I learned my lesson on the last step.

 

It's a bit tricky to cut out the hard plastic but this part is the hardest part, so keep on keepin' on! 

 

Once you've got it done, set it aside and cut out a piece of cardboard that will fit in the DVD case. My cardboard cutouts came from a USPS Flat Rate shipping box and wound up being about 5x6. Make sure with this step that you can still easily close the DVD case and keep in mind that you'll need a bit of room for the fabric.

After that, pull out your fabric and cut it so that it hangs over each side about an inch. You'll want enough room to glue it to the cardboard. Once I cut my fabric, I also cut out my pocket fabric (of the same material) and it's essentially just half of the first piece. After that, I ironed my fabric so that it wasn't wrinkly and messy looking, then used my hot glue gun to attach it to the cardboard.
You can use the spray adhesive if you prefer but I warn you- spray adhesive sucks. Anyone that tells you different is lying, or crazy. Spray adhesive was probably thought up by a crafter that had a huge project to glue and using a gluestick just wasn't cuttin it. In that scenario I imagine it's a life saver. When you're dealing with small spaces that need to be glued it just turns into a dirty, sticky mess.
Your choice though.

After you have the fabric attached to your cardboard, glue your cardboard into your DVD case. For this portion I used spray adhesive AND hot glue, just to make sure it stayed.

If you're going to go that route here's a tip- spray the adhesive on the case then wait about a minute before you add the hot glue to the cardboard and stick it on. The adhesive comes out super cold and this gives it a little time with the air to come down to room temperature and to be more sticky/less liquidy when you smash them together.

 

Once you're done with that all you have left to do is cut your scrapbook paper to fit inside of the DVD art cover, then add a thin line of hot glue to refasten the plastic liner to the back.

 

Now you get to fill your case with colored pencils and paper! Obviously a full sheet of paper won't fit, but you should be able to cut two smaller pieces out of each 8.5x11" and tuck them into the side opposite the colored pencils.

Ta-da!

I bought a 10 pack of DVD cases, so I made little travel art cases for all of my nieces and nephews as well, it's a perfect little surprise when I see them next and hopefully it gives my siblings a little peace in the car!

I hope y'all enjoy this quick craft that will give your kids something to do for endless hours of car trips!