I'm smitten with Six of late because he's become fond of writing stories and journaling his days. "Like Mommy does," he says. Sweet, right?
We've been using first grade composition books for his daily journals (he even takes them with him at sleepovers to the grandparents!). The pages are like the printing paper kindergardeners use at school and some allot half of the page for illustrations.
A few weeks ago I bought a copy of the book, Do It Yourself Kids, with hopes of finding some crafty goodness to occupy the boys over winter break. Six was scanning the book yesterday and came across a project: create a sewn journal. He was abuzz with excitement and immediately wanted to make one. He couldn't say, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Can we make a journal?! Mom! MOOOOOOOM!" fast enough.
We scoured my scrappy paper for a strong piece of cardstock that wasn't too girly (his words, not mine). Six ended up choosing a cover sheet that was natural colored with orange, light green and blue circles in a corner. We carefully folded the journaling sheets (8 blank pieces of paper) and trimmed the cardstock from 12"x12" to 8.5"x11". I handled the sewing part -- a simple process called the pamplet stitch. Using a tiny needle, you poke three holds into the fold of the journal -- one at the top, one in the middle, one at the bottom, and then you sew the pieces together (starting with the middle). It was super easy and Six could have done it if I had a blunt-tipped needle on hand.
The end result was a really cool journal that he decided to use for his next story, "The Snowman's Big Day." It's inspired me to create my own pamphlet journals.
And if you want to see another cool do-it-yourself sewn journal, check out this post from Rachel at Red Velvet Art. I found it this morning and am itching to fill up my current journals so I can have some fun making a new one.
(journal cover by scenic route paper)
*Updated: Here's a direct link to DIY Kids for instructions on how to create a pamplet journal. The book has photos, which come in handy for the sewing. Thanks to Julia Lupton for sending the link!
