An easy to make kids gift.

I thought I'd share a pretty easy idea for a kid's gift. I've done these for birthdays and Christmas presents. They're personal and I think most kids would love them. What is it? It's a personalized journal. I like to buy the blank "sketch" journals for drawing pictures, but you can also buy the journals with lined paper if you have a child that likes to write.

Here's the "before" journal. I get mine in the office supply/art section of my local Fred Meyer (it's like a Target or Walmart).



You'll need to take the spiral out, which is very easy. Just straighten out one end and spin it right out.

The next step is to find a decorative piece of 12x12 paper or cardstock. You'll have to trim it to the size of the cover. Then I glue it on. I like to use a glue runner (like Tombow or a store brand), but you could use a glue stick as well. Make sure to glue right up to the edge of all sides so the paper can't lift up. Place your paper carefully because it's hard to remove once it comes in contact with the adhesive.





Then flip the cover over and you'll be able to see the original holes. Use a hole punch to punch through the new piece of paper that you adhered. You'll need a hole punch that's a little smaller than your standard office hole punch, like 1/8" or 3/16". You can add as many layers of paper to the front as you like, just make sure to punch holes through each layer so you can get the spiral back in.






Once you've added all the base paper you're going to add, just twist the spiral back in and bend the end back into it's original position - easy peasy.




Next you add the name of the child to the cover. There are many different ways to do this. You can cut out letters by hand, use an electronic cutter (like a Cricut) or use stamps. This time around I used a Close to My Heart stamp set called "Posterboard Alphabet". They're basically cute bubble letters that I stamped onto a patterned paper and cut out. I forgot to take a close up of the stamping process, but here's a picture of the stamp set. Each of the letters is about 2" tall.




















Here's a picture of the completed journal.




















This was a Christmas gift this year. I made one for my friend's 3 kids: Abigail, Anna & Conner. Here are the other two.






















Then I paired each of them up with a box of smelly markers. Do you remember those? I used to love them. Brown's my favorite - cinnamon, yum!





I kept these pretty simple, but you can go crazy and add other embellishments to the cover and even decorate the spiral. I can't find photos of the ones I made for Abigail and Anna for their birthday last year, but I found one that I made for another friend's daughter Mackenzie.





On this one I used the Cricut to cut out her name and added a bunch of fun flowers, buttons and oodles of ribbon. Aren't these fun? Now it's your turn.