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I can't believe that by this time next week my maternity leave will be officially over and I'll have done my first day back at school. It seems like the time has flown by, yet December was such a long time ago and it feels like Emma has been in our lives forever. Absolute madness!

Anyhow, in preparation for my return I've been into school organising all the lovely new furniture that was ordered for my room and generally getting things into place. However, a lot of my folders were looking rather tatty especially as I've had some of them since before I graduated in 2003! In the name of recycling though, I couldn't bring myself to throw them away as they were still usable so I thought that I'd attempt to re-cover them first.

I bought myself some kraft wrapping paper from Paperchase which I unrolled before sticking the file on top and cutting a piece that would wrap neatly around the folder leaving a good inch of border. I then stuck this down carefully using adhesive from my ATG gun.I then decorated the front cover using some patterned papers and elements from the Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg line including some chipboard pieces to give dimension and interest. I added some ribbon and pearls from my stash. Along the spine, I used some more remnants of paper, some AC thickers and another chipboard piece. Finally, I covered the entire folder with some sticky back plastic (get me, sounding all Blue Peter-ish!) to protect it from damage, childrens sticky fingers and coffee spillages!

Voila! One unique, gorgeous and completely scrummy folder ready for next term. Now if only I could make my planning as appealing as this....