For gifts this year, the kids made personalized journals for their teachers.
I picked up a few of these canvas sketchbooks from Blicks. I LOVE them and can’t wait to get a few more to play around with. The inside pages are not lined, which I love (though nothing beats graph paper for me!). And the canvas cover can be customized with basically any medium you can come up with – markers, crayons, paints, stamps, etc.
We thought about using paint, but Chartpak markers seemed like a fun choice.
I taped off the paper edges to protect against stray marks.
The girls and I talked a little about what they were going to draw, we did a little sketching first and then I let them do their thing. They drew the outlines first with fine point sharpies.
And then colored in with the Chartpak markers. The markers bled a lot outside the sharpie lines, but it was fine. Who wants a perfectly-in-the-lines coloring job anyway?
Evie made one too and it ended up being a very pretty, dreamy abstract. I think Heather is going to keep it.
The notebooks were such a hit with the teachers. The kids drew stories and pictures of what each teacher will be doing during the summer.
Claire’s pre-k teacher, Al, is also a film maker (he is seriously the coolest, nicest teacher). He’s making this super hip indie film this summer about a man that leaves his wallet and his phone in his office building late one night and gets locked out. He has to walk all the way home to Brooklyn with empty pockets and he has lots of adventures along the way. I can’t wait to see it when Al’s finished. Claire drew a picture of him filming on the streets of NYC, and she and Evie “just happen to be walking down the sidewalk” and they get filmed too (Claire’s words – that kid!)
Gracie also had a really special teacher this year, Miranda, who we will love forever. It’s crazy how involved these lovely people are with our kids and then, bam, one day it’s over and they’re done. That can be hard to digest for kids, teachers and parents alike.
Miranda is summering in Spain and Morocco, so Grace drew a picture of her teacher taking a cab to the airport (Grace is waving goodbye from our building). And on the back side, Miranda is riding a camel in Morocco by the beach.
I made one for myself and used a blender marker to add in some water marks. Looks sort of like tie dye, right? I like it. The back side (with the bright orangey red, below), is my favorite.
Anyway, I feel like the possibilities are endless with these canvas-bound sketchbooks! I’m going to try some patterns next. Maybe like a Les Touches-esque stylized leopard print? Or a faux bois… or malachite… Tortoise shell…
These are WONDERFUL!
I think you could sell the girls journals, for sure people would buy them…they are so charming, and the style/bleeding markers is pretty much the best thing ever!
Seriously? You should write a few stories and let them illustrate them…I bet you could find a publisher! (Not that I know anything, but I am thoroughly charmed!)
Yours is gorgeous! I LOVE this idea and how personalized and wonderful for the teachers!
xoxo
eileen
http://www.acreativedayblog.com
I love this idea for Sunday school. I am taking it!!
Genious!
I like the idea to entertain the kids in this way, creating something creative and fun and making something useful and personal for someone special.
iLa
Such a great gift idea. Though I'm not a teacher I'd love to receive something customized like this. Looks retail, but better!
You better open up a shop for you and your talented gals. Little Women would be a nice name.
I bet all the teachers fight over your daughters.
great gift.
pve
Amazingness!! Love these- this is must do project- and I had never heard of those markers- gotta check it out! what a special gift for their teachers!!
This is probably one of my favorite posts ever..such creativity abounds in your family! Looks as though you have some budding artists there. I agree that there could be a market for these lovely journals. In the meantime I am inspired to do something of this nature! Blessings!
The Little Watercolor Notebooks. Love them. Looks like the girls had a great time making these with you too! Good job, Mama.
I used to LOVE get a blank bound notebook like that when I was in middle and high school. One I filled with torn pages from my Seventeen, Teen, YM and Sassy magazines — others I filled with lines from my favorite movies. I kept lists of trips my family had taken. I still have these books. Fantastic idea!!
Great idea! The art work is so fun and unique!
And ps, your girls are beautiful!!
Love everything about this post! Such a great idea! And my PreK little one does not draw like that! Amazing!
This is the best idea. Too bad we just finished school and didn't have a chance to make these for our wonderful teachers. Next year for sure!
What a great idea! Love them!
Not surprisingly, your girls are as fabulously talented as you! These are beautiful!
Genius! And a great gift idea!! Thanks for sharing.
So sweet! The illustrations are awesome…such a thoughtful gift. Two thumbs up for the girls. :)
I think this is a fantastic idea. Putting the teacher's name on the spine might be an option.
Amazing! This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
How cool are these journals?! Your children's teachers are going to treasure these forever. I'm in awe. Love your tie-dye effect and your future journal ideas. Your creativity is boundless!
How very creative!
All of them turned out wonderful, how very thoughtful to give such personalized gifts, I am sure the teachers will treasure them :)
Liz
This is SO sweet. Getting a gift like that would probably make me cry, especially the fact that they drew something personal to the teachers. And they look really great!
I love absolutely everything about this! And I am super impressed with the kids' drawing abilities! I'll bet those teachers were thrilled.
I LOVE this! Thanks for sharing – my kids are going to enjoy making books… I'm thinking Grandma gifts at Christmas :-)
What a wonderful idea and special little works of art. I'll definitely be doing this with my kids. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
What a great idea!!! I love that for presents, great for grandparents too! And yours turned out so, so pretty. I love it! Thanks!
This is such a lovely idea. Thanks for sharing. I like that it's original.
So fun, what a wonderful gift!!
Fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing!
Yes to graph paper!! I'm hooked on it, and I don't even use it for drawing! I love the idea of making personalized notebooks, I bet their teachers are going to be really touched by the gesture! xo
What a wonderful idea! Thank you so much for sharing. And, I love to see the creativity in your budding artists!
What a lovely idea! Its such a beautiful "keep sake" item to have. Can you do a tutorial on how you did your notebook with the water color markers?
These are amazing! I'd love to make my own… yours with the watercolor tie dye effect is beautiful!
These will be beautiful gifts. Your girls are as talented as you are. And beautiful.
Your daughters are such artists! This is such a personal and creative gift. Great idea :)
What a thoughtful gift idea! Your girls are adorable and inspiring artists! I especially love your notebook-I would pay for that!
This is fantastic, what I found the most adorable was to see how your girls drew big tall buildings. It's a testament to the fact that kids are a product of their environment. My kids have never spent much time in big cities so their drawings are of beaches and flowers or surfers.
I love to see how kids become who they are and how their characters and dreams are shaped.
Oh my gosh, these are amazing! I love them and yours is so perfect!
Love, love, love this crafty gift idea! And your daughters are amazing artists! I am so sad right now that they closed down the Pearl Art center that was forever on LI otherwise I'd run there tomorrow for some of these journals. Thanks for the great post :-)
same as everyone else, i love this idea. im sure the teachers were blown away by these thoughtful creative gifts. and yours? wow, i must make one of those. my little notebook just got soaked by water, so i need a new one:) would love a detailed tut about how you did this!
cindy
These are beautiful! your little girls draw so well! Great idea!
:)
so adorable! i wondered where my teachers got these when i was in elementary school. it was one of the things that made me want to become a writer when i was younger and wrote/drew in these! such a great experience for kids.
I adore your children's drawings! such artist! :)
Holy snot, what a great idea! I was just thinking about how to customize some plain white magazine holders from ikea. I could use the markers and blender to make a watery blue and green patterns on them to go with the waterside colors in my office.
Um…your kids are AMAZING artists- those notebooks are the cutest ones I seriously have ever seen- they honestly could be sold…so cute. And can we talk about yours…gorgeous!!!
This is adorable. I am a pre-school teacher and this would be the best gift ever. So thoughtful and creative!
Such a thoughtful gift for teachers.
I also like the fact the markers ran a bit,very pretty.
These are super cool. Your daughters' designs look like something whimsical that would be sold at Target. Your watercolor-y version was beautiful too. It made me think of that watercolored wallpaper that I've seen on Pinterest. Beautiful gifts, all around.
These are amazing, like everyone is saying. But I'm wondering if the paint becomes waterproof after it dries, or if these need to be taken a little extra care of.
This is so wonderful and creative! Thank you for sharing this. I love the idea of allowing children to create their own drawings from their creative minds. What a truely special gift.
Good job mom!