DIY Laptop Skin

Hey there, I'm baaaack!

So I am leaving for university in two days. This is getting ridiculous.

In honor of this beloved back to school season, I've decided to show you how to make a laptop skin that costs barely anything and looks fly as heck. This would also work great for tablets, phones, or Transmutating Photon-Cloakers.

Here's what you'll need:

• A laptop, phone, or transmorgifier that needs some snazz
• Clear contact paper (If your device is black or a dark color, clear paper might not show up very well. You can use an opaque contact paper and draw directly on it, or try metallic or opaque markers.)
• A piece of paper larger than your device. (for my laptop, I needed ledger paper.)
• Sharpies in various colors- I would also suggest a fine-tip black sharpie for crisp lines.
• Ruler or magical Carpenter Square
• X-Acto knife or scissors
• A pencil
• An idea for a design you would like. Mine was sort of inspired by Mile Perry's graphic design work (see today's background!)

First, trace the outline of your device onto the paper:

*I know, I know, these pictures are super blurry. I had some exposure issues on my camera..

If your device has something you might need to work around, like a logo, mark where it is:

Next, draw a line 1/2" in on each side of the laptop's outline. If you want, round the corners on the new rectangle you have made:

For my 13" Macbook, the final rectangle is 12 1/4" by 8 1/2"

Now for the fun part! Use a pencil to draw any design you would like onto the paper:

All done!

Once you have a design you like, cut a piece of contact paper larger than the outline of the design:

Peel off the backing on the contact paper and stick it directly onto the design, making sure that the paper is free of lint or eraser guts and smoothing out any air bubbles:

Trace your design onto the contact paper with a marker. For the outlines I used a fine tip black sharpie. When I did this I was worried that the sharpie would rub off easily, but it actually stayed permanently as if it were drawn on regular paper!

Now you can go crazy adding color until you have a look you like:

Next, cut around the outline of the design, rounding the corners if you would like:

After you've cut it down to size, carefully peel the contact paper away and stick it onto the (clean!) surface of your device:

You can use a credit card to help squeegee out any air bubbles and, since this is contact paper, you can reposition it multiple times to get it lined up perfectly.

And you're done! 

Now your device will stand out in a sea of boring black, silver, and white! I've had this skin on my laptop for about three months now and it looks just the same as when I put it on, so it's pretty durable. 

This project is so versatile, I would love to see what you come up with! If you try it out, send me pictures and let me know how it goes!!

For more back to school projects, check out the five-part series I did last year.

Thanks for reading!