homemade journals

Addie has recently become interested in journal keeping after spending the past few months writing in one every day at preschool.  By writing, I mean drawing pictures and letters, sounding out basic words, and describing her pictures to her teachers.  I loved keeping a journal when I was young and I want to encourage my girls to write down their ideas, inspiration, drawings, doodles, etc.  When I saw this idea I knew Addie and I had to make our own for her and Bella.

Amazingly, Bella and Ashlynn's naps overlapped a bit this afternoon so Adelaide and I had some time to work on these little handmade journals just the two of us.  I prepped some of the cutting so it would be faster but all told this really only took us about an hour to complete.  While the inspiration provided detailed instructions I have to admit I didn't even read then.  They looked simple enough and as I do with my cooking, I like to improvise as I go along.

We used thick scrapbook paper for the cover.  I cut a long strip that I folded into thirds so the right hand side would open up and reveal the journal within.  I also glued a piece of thin cardboard to the back panel of the book so there would be a hard surface to write on.

On the inside flap of the book I stamped a place for the girls to personalize their journal.

Instead of putting Addie and Bella's names on the front of the journal so they could tell them apart, I stamped their ages.  Both girls are super proud of how old they are and talk about it all the time so using a 3 and 5 on the front made them both really happy!

I used white drawing paper for the inside pages.  I cut and folded the pages to fit the inside of the journal cover.

I sewed the pages in with a sewing needle and thread.  Addie was fascinated with my sewing basket and it reminded me how magical and wonderful my own mother's sewing basket felt (those cute tomato pin cushions, and buttons and colorful spools of thread).  My mother's sewing basket was a thing of wonder for me as a little girl.  I love taking out my own sewing basket for mending or fun projects like this! 

We decided to add a ribbon through two small hole punches and create a pretty way to tie closed our journals.  We just punched two more holes on the narrow flap so we could feed them though and tie it closed.  I had this ribbon leftover from the wedding favors we made for our wedding!

Then Addie and I blinged out the journals with rhinestones.  Finished product

Journal in use!

I'm really excited to make these for kids birthday gifts (or adult gifts for that matter).  We get invited to lots of birthday parties and always need a little something to give.  It was so fast and quick and there are a million ways to decorate or personalize these.  I caught myself getting giddy over adding stickers to some of the pages in Bella's journal.  It was so fun!