Happy almost Thanksgiving! During the fall holiday months, Shorebread tries to come up with creative crafts that are easy to do so that maybe we’ll pass them on to you and your family. This November, we’ve made Gratitude Journals, an easy, fun gift that you can give to the special people in your life.

(Fun fact: If you would like to give it as a gift, write down things you are grateful for on all of the pages in your journal, specific to the person your’re giving it to! It would make such a thoughtful and sweet present.)

What you need:

• Small notebooks (any size depending on what you think you’d like)
• Stamps, decoration, markers
• Cardstock
• Ruler, scissors

How to:

1. Cut a piece of patterned paper so that it is about 2 inches taller and 3 or 4 times wider than your notebook. Lay the paper on a flat work surface wrong-side up, and lay your notebook in the middle of it. Bend the top edge of the paper up against the top of the notebook. Move the notebook out of the way, and fold the top edge of the paper down all along the crease you just made.
2. Repeat this process with the bottom edge of the paper.
3. Lay the notebook just to the right of the center of the paper. Open the back cover of the notebook and fold the paper over it, creasing it with your finger. Pick up the notebook, and slide the back cover into the pocket you just created in the paper. Make sure you slide the notebook in as far as it will go.
4. Fold the rest of the paper up and over the front of the notebook. Use your finger to crease the spot where the paper meets the edge of the notebook.
5. Lay the paper back out, and fold the left edge over where you marked it.
6. Open the front cover of the notebook and carefully slide the front cover into the pocket you just created. This will be trickier than sliding the back cover in, but just be patient and gentle and it will work.
7. Close your notebook. All done! If you want, you can put a label on the front, but we actually love them plain! They look so crisp and sleek! Decorate them however you’d like.