Entries Tagged as 'notebooks'

fruit crafts for kids

Do you get homework over the Summer holidays?  We don’t but reading and writing practice is encouraged.  With the best will in the world I know I’m not going to sit down with Anya and start practicing writing every day or even every week.  We get enough homework during term time so we all need a break 😉 But I do think it’s a good idea to keep in touch with writing and reading so I thought I would make her a Summer diary where she can write what she does every few days.  Last week I rounded up some fabulous fruit crafts which inspired me to make these fruity DIY Summer diaries for Anya.

DIY diary journal for kids

Anya loved the idea of making fruit inspired DIY Summer journals and chose strawberry, pineapple and orange as her fruits.  If you’d like to make these, read on.

What you’ll need:
A6 notebooks
A4 coloured paper in red, yellow and orange
2-3 sheets thin green card
black pen and brown and white coloured pencil
scissors
tape or glue (optional)

Begin by covering your notebooks with the coloured paper.  When I was in school in India, we had to cover all our school books or there would be big trouble.  With so many years of practice I can now cover books with my eyes closed!  But in case you haven’t done it before, here’s how:

how to cover a notebook

Once the books are covered, you can stick or glue the inside flaps down but I prefer to leave them just folded without glue or tape.  Next I needed to make the books look more like the fruit they were meant to be.  I drew leaf shapes on my green card – just using a pencil.  This isn’t meant to be precise or perfect so just draw freehand.  I drew three different types of leaves – one for each fruit.  And then I cut them out.  But I wanted to create a bookmark too so I cut a long piece of card with the leaves cut out at the top as the picture below shows.  So you not only have a DIY Summer diary but also a super cute DIY bookmark to match.

easy fruit themed DIY ideas

To finish off these fruity DIY Summer diaries I used a fine black pen to add seeds to the strawberry, a brown coloured pencil to line the pineapple diary and a white coloured pencil to add a touch of white to the orange diary.

DIY summer journal fruit craftfruit crafts for kidsDIY Summer journalfruit crafts for kids

My favourite journal is the strawberry one – I might even make one for myself!  If you’re looking for some more fruit craft inspiration, check out my round-up of some of the best.

If you visit me regularly, you’ll know that I love all things Japanese.  Be it Japanese toys, or books or homewares, the Japanese are able to create such simple yet stunning objects of extreme desire.  In my quest for finding more Japanese goodies, I stumbled across D-Bros that make little objects and stationery for the home and for kids.  Some of their offerings are so beautiful in a minimalist kind of way, which is exactly the kind of style that the Japanese excel in.

"japanese notebooks for kids"

I love these notebooks with their red ribbon detail and the sweetest illustrations.  I think any little girl will be pleased to own one of these but I’m also thinking big girls will want one too.  I know I do!

"unusual birhtday cards for kids"

These little match-box style cards are so unusual and so pretty.  On offer are birthday cards, new baby cards, wedding cards and more.  Just lovely!

"fairytale drinking glasses for kids"

These fairytale drinking glasses are just so cool.  I’m loving the illustrations and the way they’re reflected around the entire glass.  It almost looks like the wolf and the wicked witch are floating through the glass.

To see more of D-Bros‘ lovely products visit them.  You’ll find goodies not just for the kids but for the home too.  Unfortunately you can’t buy unless you’re in Japan but you can check out Rakuten, Japan’s global market that ship’s internationally and has a selection of D-Bros stuff.

"Children's birthday cards"

I’m really not feeling the love for kids birthday cards at the mo.  There’s nothing wrong with them but after a while they all seem samey and boring (snore).  But on the weekend I stumbled across Ask Alice, a little store buried deep in the Australian corner of the internet and boy, did I like!  Ask Alice doesn’t stop at making wow birthday cards, they also make gift tags, notebooks and postcards, all with bags of style and beauty.  Apart from the super graphics, it’s the style of paper used that really bring these stationary bits to life.  I could buy it all… if you’ve been reading regularly you’ll know that I’m a bit of a stationery fiend.  The cards cost AUD20 for a set of 5 (isn’t the whale one a cutie?!), the gift tags are AUD15 for 6 and the notebooks are AUD18.  Ask Alice ships to the UK from AUD3.10.

If beautiful notebooks are your thing, don’t miss the Darling Clementine ones.

"The black apple prints"

"the black apple etsy store"

"the black apple print"

I discovered The Black Apple yesterday and boy, did I like.  It’s an Etsy store peddling prints and notebooks mainly.  While there’s nothing unusual in that, the unusual-ness comes from the visuals which are quirky, curious and utterly mesmerising.  There are so many to choose from that it’s really hard to pick a favourite, especially when all are so captivating.  But the ‘Beekeeper’ does have a certain special appeal for me as does the ‘Tattooed Lady’.  Besides the prints, there are some cute n’ quirky notebooks too.  I’m liking the ‘Sweet as Pie’ set of 3 notebooks and also feeling the love for ‘Wolf Boy’ in a weird and wonderful way.  The Black Apple small prints cost $16 while the notebooks cost $12 for a set of 3 and they ship everywhere from $5.  The super talented Emily Martin, owner and creator, has seriously got quite an imagination which has definitely grabbed my attention!

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