Make Mouse Pad in 10 Minutes

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Are you MADLY in love with your mouse pad?  If not, let’s change that,  in 10 minutes!

You won’t believe how easy and fun it is to make mouse pad, either from an old one you have, or from scratch, using your favorite photo!

I also have a little gift for you! If you like the 2 photos I used here, you can download them at the end of this tutorial !

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As you can see, I liked the result so much, that I made 2! One from scratch, and the other from and old mouse pad! 

Materials and tools:

  • a Inkjet printer, paper or card stock as backing
  • Elmer’s Spray Adhesive
  • fabric: I used a piece of 100% cotton fabric. Synthetic fabric may not absorb ink as well.
  • an old mouse pad, or if you want to make from scratch a sheet of  craft foam can work pretty well

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First step is to print our favorite photo or image onto the fabric, using the spray adhesive method, which I personally find easier than the freezer paper method.

Remember last week’s little project of how to print on fabric with our home printer? You can read more about the details of the process here.print on fabric & DIY burlap art scroll | A Piece Of Rainbowprint on fabric & DIY burlap art scroll | A Piece Of RainbowDIY-mouse-pads-apieceofrainbowblog (10) DIY-mouse-pads-apieceofrainbowblog (11)DIY-mouse-pads-apieceofrainbowblog (2)

After peeling off the printed fabric, you can iron it a little if it looks wrinkled.

I trimmed the old mouse pad to a more geometric shape for fun.

The craft foam sheet is kept at a rectangle shape. The photos are sized slightly smaller than 8.5″x11″.

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Next, spay a thin coat of the spray adhesive on the old mouse pad, or craft foam, attach the fabric. Then trim off the excess fabric.How to make mouse pad | A Piece Of Rainbow

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See how easy it is to transform an old object into something new and beautiful? Here’s a similar DIY you may enjoy- transform old switch plates and outlet covers into designer ones! (with free printable download as well!) apieceofrainbow7-1w

Now the photos for you to download as I promised- the waterfall photo is from our trip to Columbia Gorge, you can see more of the magnificent waterfalls here.apieceofrainbow21 (4)

And the maple tree one if from the amazing Portland Japanese Garden, see more photos from that trip here. apieceofrainbow8-5w

Download photos- 1.Waterfall. 2. Maple tree. (If you have trouble downloading, please know that it works!! May be a browser issue, just ask friends to download and email them to you!) 

Have a lovely day and happy creating! xo

38 Comments

  1. This is just what I am looking for and the DIY mouse pad looks so nice! Thanks for sharing this creative technique!

  2. With pictures like yours, no wonder you feel like making new mouse pads 🙂 I’d need to start getting nice pictures… Your post made me smile because I actually got rid of the mouse pad altogether. Gone. Our latest one fell apart, so I thought it would be simpler without. BUT this, this is fun and the customization takes it to the next level (and is very much en vogue right now, in all fields…). Have a beautiful and creative February, dear Ananda!

  3. This is such a clever idea – definitely something I’d love to try at some point! I still don’t get how you printed onto fabric without a special printer!!

    Katie <3

  4. This is such a fun and creative project! It makes me wish I still had a mouse attached to my computer! The major downside to a laptop, I suppose. lol!

  5. What a fun project! I never thought of customizing my own. I will have to share this with my sister so her kids can help and make it the craft for the day. They will think they’re really “big kids” by getting to help with something in the office. Thanks!

    • I tried every material and back ground for my Magic Mouse, thinking better abstract means better tracking – wrong. I ended up using an opaque/clear cutting sheet, the kind you chop veges and then bend to pour veges. I got 2 for $1 and had a spare. It laid smoothly on my wood desk and works 100%.

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