A sweet little craft: Mama and Me journal

The background is my dialysis blanket. Comfy but kinda blends in with the journal! lol
 

Salaam ya'll! Crafty mama is back! Well, sorta. :) I saw this on a facebook page and just loved the idea! I take NO credit for the idea or even the printable; I downloaded it from this website, Mama Jenn. She probably has a lot of other cool ideas but this is all I've discovered so far!

Anyway I was able to go there and print off the cute little "Mama & me" cover; she also has it in blue tones if you prefer. :) I had some composition books here that had just been hanging around, waiting for a project that never took place. This one seemed much more doable!

I liked the black and white of the cover so I printed off a leopard background (it IS for Little Miss Animal Rescuer, after all!); just do a google search for "printable background" and whatever parameters you want. So I printed off the label and the background. A little judicious use of Elmer's glue saw them affixed to the cover. :)

I don't have a fancy cutter, just scissors, and I am a little too lazy to dig out a ruler, etc. so I eyeballed it. Alhamdulillah I had some ribbons a very sweet sis sent to me in a gift pack a couple of years ago. (Jazaki Allahu khair, sis, we've had so much fun with those supplies!) So I glued that on the edge and it really tied it together AND hide my not-quite-plum edge. ;)



Up-close of the ribbon. Yeah, I'm inordinately proud of it. ;)

As is par for the course, I didn't plan out anything. I knew the printable was pink so I looked for pink cheetah/leopard? print and then alhamdulillah I had a cute ribbon to match. :) I did cut the ribbon a bit longer than the front cover, tucked it in and glued it to the inside.

Now if I were crazy crafty and worried about little things, I would now cut more pink cheetah paper to fit the inside cover to hide those ribbon ends. I don't think I'm that person today so it'll just stay that way. :)

Aaminah loves those glittery stickers so I put the year on; we ran out of "A"s a loooong time ago! ;)

I hope you'll think about making one of these. It was a fast, cute, and easy craft that will help preserve memories. The idea behind it is to write "love" letters to each other. So for example, now since Aaminah is small I'll have to help her, or she might opt to draw a picture. When she's older, I hope to save this (and more?) to give to her when she is a mom. Our kids do so many awesome, sweet, and sometimes frustrating things, I think this is a pretty cool way to document them.

Let me know if you make one, I'd love to see how crafty ya'll get. I am probably a 6 on the crafty scale; more than your average but faaar less than most of my friends and family. I have the spark but I really have to see what other do and then I can make my own spin on it. I like seeing how others approach the same project.

Ma salaama ya'll!