Customize your school and office supplies by making these fun colored staples. Make different designs including rainbow, glitter, and even color changing staples!
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Growing up I loved to customize my own DIY school supplies. It’s great because not only are you making a craft, but it’s useful. I would make pencil toppers, erasers (see the Minecraft eraser), and all sorts of things. One of my favorites though, was customizing staples. I never really understood why colored staples didn’t really exist and why we all settled for basic silver ones. I saw it as an opportunity to add some joy to something mundane and soon all of my friends were making colorful staples as well.
There are two main methods I like to use to make them. One makes colorful staples and the other gives you completely unique staples, such as color changing or even glitter staples!
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Materials to Make Colored Staples
- Staples (this is the one I have)
- Permanent Markers (this is similar to the set I used)
- Glitter Nail Polish (such as this one)
- Color Changing Nail Polish (the one I used isn’t sold anymore, but here are some similar ones)
Video Instructions for Colored-Changing, Glitter, and Colored Staples
Instructions to Make Colored Staples
The rainbow staples are a great example of how to make colored staples so I’ll start with that one. Then there are different colors and styles. Click the links to jump to each one:
Rainbow Staples
Start with the pink sharpie and draw a line down one side.
Then use the orange sharpie to draw a line next to the pink one.
Continue with the yellow, green, blue, and purple to finish the rainbow.
You can stop here so that the top of the staples are colorful. Or you can take it to the next step and color the sides as well. Since you started and finished with pink and purple, color the sides in the same colors.
Then your unique colorful staples are ready to use!
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How fun and cute are these rainbow staples when used!
The best part about these colored staples is you can make different kinds, such as the green staples underneath.
Green Staples
Similar to the rainbow staples, the key is to draw stripes lengthwise onto the staples.
You can use different colored green markers or just one. I liked the look of the alternating colors.
Don’t forget the sides!
And don’t worry about having uneven stripes. Since the staples come off one at a time, it doesn’t have to look the same as the next.
You could even color them completely unevenly so that it’s always changing.
The would also go perfectly with the DIY Minecraft eraser.
Using Nail Polish to Make Colored Staples
Instead of using markers, you can also customize your staples with nail polish. I made this glitter and pink staples with nail polish.
Glitter Staples
I also tried making glitter staples with glue and loose glitter, but I can tell you, it doesn’t work. When you use the stapler, the glitter flies of the staple so you’re left with a plain staple with glitter all over the paper.
So if you want to have glitter staples, painting on nail polish is the way to go!
Be sure to let the nail polish dry completely before using.
See the glitter stays on!
Color Changing Pink Staples
Similar to the glitter staples, you can make color changing pink staples with nail polish.
Simply paint on the nail polish.
You can either paint the sides or leave them plain.
Then let them dry before using.
You can see the top one is more of a purple-pink than the bottom. Depending on the color changing nail polish you use, the change will be more or less obvious. But these are definitely fun to play with!
And for more back to school fun for the little ones, you can try these printable back to school color by numbers.
More DIY School Supplies
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Colored Staples
Customize your school and office supplies by making these fun colored staples. Make different designs including rainbow, glitter, and even color changing staples!
Materials
- Staples
- Permanent Markers several colors
Instructions
- Draw a pink line down one side of the staplesStaples, Permanent Markers
- Use the orange sharpie to draw a line next to the pink one.
- Continue with the yellow, green, blue, and purple to finish the rainbow.
- Since you started and finished with pink and purple, color the sides in the same colors.
- Let the ink dry for a a few seconds so it doesn't smudge
Daniela Kretchmer
Daniela is a lifelong crafter who loves to share her passion for crafting. Through classes or learning on her own, she likes to say she'll do pretty much any craft aside from scrapbooking. Her current personal obsessions include garden crafts, felting, and spinning yarn.
