Lately I've been wondering what to give to Adelaide's little friends at her birthday party this coming Sunday. I really am not fond of purchasing items that are eventually going to end up in a dumpster somewhere, and so I wanted to try to give the children something that hopefully they will be able to use and enjoy beyond a sunday afternoon birthday party. And I also wanted to try and make the goodies myself using inexpensive materials that I had on hand.
Because I've had several parents ask me about Adelaide's favourite crayons - a kind of children's wax and oil based crayon from Japan - I got the idea to give out small packs of these crayons in the birthday goodie bags. And then I realised that I could make small children's scribbler books to go along with them!
To make the scribble books, I first scanned in some animals from the pages of one of Adelaide's colouring books that I picked up at Daiso for $2 but it is completely unmarked besides pictures and a bit of Japanese text. I wish that I made the illustrations myself - they are so very sweet! However, I did not due to lack of time and because these little books are for gifts and won't be sold.
After scanning in several animals - Monkeys, Dolphins, Squirrels, Lions, Otters, and Penguins - I made a layout simply in photoshop using the typefaces Giddyup and Neutraface. And I added alphabets in both capital and lower-case letters on the back cover, too. Once Designed, I printed out on my desktop printer many covers onto random coloured card stock pages.
For the insides, I chose simple multi-coloured paper, along with some kraft, manila, and interlined paper as well. I randomly sorted them in stacks of 8 sheets, and along with a cover folded them in half to make 16 page books. Then, using a long-armed stapler (which I simply asked to borrow from my mom's work for a few days) I stapled the center fold line of each book twice.
I then added a length of librarian's book tape to the spine. With an xacto knife, I measured out 3/4" from the spine edge of the cover and marked two small marks with the blade. Then matching up the edge of the tape to the marks I laid the tape down, and then flipped and pressed it to the backside of the book. Last, using my Fiskars rotary paper cutter, I trimmed down the books to their final size - about 5x7"- and rounded the corners with my corner rounder. All Done!
These books are so incredibly simple and quick to make that I hope maybe you will make some for your little ones, too. They'd be great to kept in a small bag along with some crayons, ready for when you go out to a restaurant or coffee shop. Hopefully they can keep little ones occupied for even a short while!
But, I made too many! I have about a dozen or so leftover books that I'd like to give away. If you have or know a little one who would like to have a couple of them, please leave a comment and I will randomly select six or so children to send them to. Which animals would they choose? Which would you?
These books are so incredibly simple and quick to make that I hope maybe you will make some for your little ones, too. They'd be great to kept in a small bag along with some crayons, ready for when you go out to a restaurant or coffee shop. Hopefully they can keep little ones occupied for even a short while!
ps. Thank-you all so much for your many comments and sweet words. I have now gone through all the comments for my children's book giveaway, and I have tried my best to pick winners by matching their animal preferences with what books I had left. And the winners are:
Christine
Valerie
Tracey
Andrea Soos
LOLO+SPROUT
Alex
Joanna
The Flower Maiden
Julie E
If you are a winner and you haven't heard from me yet, please send me your mailing information so I can send your new book(s) to you!
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