Hand Stitched Cereal Box Journal

For years I have been altering those composition notebooks; they make wonderful gifts for my kids and their friends.  But, I have always wanted to make my own.  So, over Spring Break, my kids and I packed our craft supplies and headed to a good friend's house.  My tween and I spent an entire day with our friend Barb, of Papillion Creative, making books!  What's even better, they didn't cost us a dime because we upcyled a common household item...cereal boxes!  They turned out even better than we imagined!  

Can you believe we used these...

 

  to create this!  

Of course my little Bohemian tween's journal was the cutest.  My friend Barb is quite the artist, we used fabric that she painted and stamped, some embroidery pieces and sheets of wonderful handmade paper from her stash.  You can find some of the supplies like the thread and yarn in her wonderful little Etsy shop here.

We hand stitched fabric for the cover and added the handmade paper in pretty colors to the inside.  We used yarn to bind them.  My daughter, long fascinated with henna tattoos, drew a beautiful design on the back cover of Barb's book (upper right corner).

We spent the entire day making, chatting, and laughing while the little ones played outside.  Next to the crafting time I have with my daughter, this was hands-down, the most creative fun I've had in a long time.  Barb and I kept asking each other why we waited so long to do this, and decided to get together each month.  Can't wait to see what we're doing in April!