Well it's always best to start at the beginning! So, here it is... the first item in the Something to Make book. A Scrapbook...
Making a scrapbook is a very simple item to start with and useful as we are about to create a LOT of paper pieces and this will keep everything looking neat and tidy. It involves sewing which is a great skill to teach children. It encourages hand-eye coordination and concentration. It also helps us grown-ups develop patience... sewing is not a quick task for little hands.
Time taken for us to make it: 45 minutes
Cost to me: 50p
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| Make a Scrapbook instructions |
What we used:
- At least 5 sheets of paper approx 60cm x 42cm
- Scissors
- A large needle (we have plastic one with a rounded tip, ideal for small children)
- Thread picker
- Embroidery thread
We had all of these items already at home other than the paper. We bought some cheap but thick paper for 10p per sheet from our local craft shop. We encourage you to do the same. The larger chain stores are great and they are very useful, but it goes without saying - always try to support your local independent shops or market stall holders.
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| Our friendly local craft shop |
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| Gather all of your materials |
What we did... We made sure that all the sheets of paper were the same size, then creased each sheet down the centre by folding them in half. Before sewing we made some guide holes down the centre of the creases. I marked where we needed the holes, then Amelie carefully punched them with the thread picker.
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| Carefully punching guide-holes for threading the spine |
We tied a large knot in the thread, and sewed through all the sheets in large stitches up and down the crease. Finishing by securing the thread by knotting it around the last stitch.
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| Just keep sewing... |
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| Just keep sewing... |
Once the entire length of the spine was sewn together we decorated the cover with our felt tip pens. A proper cover will be made for this later on.
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| Get creative |
There you go... easy peasy, lemon squeezy! We'll be using our scrapbook for things we'll be making during this challenge. We have also made another, much smaller one, using A4 paper which we used as a diary during our holiday. Each evening we wrote what we had done that day and drew a picture illustrating it. When we returned home we filled the remaining pages with some of the photos we had taken whilst away. Creating these scrapbooks are brilliant for recording precious memories, and spending the time making them from scratch will create a precious memory in itself.
That's it for this post. We hope you have enjoyed reading it. I'm just finding my stride, but I'm enjoying the process.
We're off to make some things out of paper! We'll keep you posted on how we get on :o) x
