DIY | Make Your Own Custom Phone Case

TIA HERE and, for my first post of 2015, I am going to teach you how to make your own personalized phone case in the cheapest and easiest way possible. I think this could work with any type of smartphone if you just follow the steps below, but it will turn out a little differently for each one (especially curved phones). I used an iPhone 5S for this tutorial, and it worked perfectly for me. Hopefully it will work perfectly for you, too!

While the video above explains everything, I thought I would lay out the steps with a little more detail in case you are looking for more information.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Paper. This can be plain paper, like the kind I used, or paper already with a design on it. Even a photograph works!
• Scissors and an X-ACTO knife. You can probably use just an X-ACTO knife for this, but because this was my first time using one (and I was quite terrible at it!) I was glad to also have scissors. Either way, you will almost definitely need an X-ACTO knife, if you plan on cutting out the hole for the camera on your phone.
• A stencil and spray paint (OPTIONAL). Since I was using plain paper, I took this as an opportunity to do my own design. If you are using a photo, you might not want to add anything else to it at all. Feel free to decorate with stickers as well, or anything that you can put on a piece of paper that won't stick out too much.
• A pencil. This is purely for tracing.
• A phone with a clear case. The case I have for my phone is blue around the edges and clear at the back. This is important, because if the back isn't clear, then your design won't shine through.

THE STEPS TO SUCCESS:

1. Trace around your phone on the paper. Pick a corner so you don't waste a lot of paper, and try to trace the shape of your phone as exactly as possible.
2. Cut out what you have traced. Feel free to use scissors or an X-ACTO knife. This should be quick and easy to do! Make sure you stick it into your case and put your phone back in to check on the size and shape. If you have no problems, continue. If it doesn't fit quite right, cut a little more along the problem edges.
3. With the phone and paper in the case, trace the hole in the case where the camera is. You don't want to accidentally cover up your camera with paper! As I said in the video, when you trace this, you will end up with a bit smaller of an oval than you actually need to cut out, so make sure you cut it out a little wider so the frayed edges of the paper don't show by your camera. This is when you'll want to use an X-ACTO knife, as the area is very small and the cutting will be a bit tedious—but not impossible. Afterward, you'll want to put the paper back in between your case and phone again to check how well you did.
4. Edit your design (OPTIONAL). If you are using plain paper like I did and want to add something to it, now is the time. I took my paper outside and put it on a piece of cardboard so I could spray paint it without turning the grass gold. I shook the spray paint can, threw an arrow stencil on top of the paper, and started spraying lightly and all over the stencil and paper. Be sure to check the direction of the wind so the paint wafts away from you and not toward you! Wear old clothes if you're afraid of damaging whatever you're wearing. Depending on the paint and paper you use, drying may take up any time from one hour to quite a few. I decided to wait 24 hours because I was in no real rush to put the design into my case. After 24 hours, there was no smudging, so I don't think it's likely that you'll have to wait any longer than that. Check what it says on your paint can first, of course!
5. Enjoy your saved money and personalized phone case design. The best part about this personalized case is that you can switch out the paper any time you like. You can make several, one with a photograph of friends, one covered in cute stickers, or one that you spray painted—and you can change them out any time you like. It's like having multiple phone cases, rather than just one!

Hope you enjoyed this DIY tutorial and now know how to make your own customized phone case. Have fun with it, and get creative!

For more, check out Tia's new blog!

Much love,

T.