World Book Day craft with Artline pens

As today is World Book Day I really wanted to make something special to celebrate!  I absolutely love to read and think a day dedicated to encouraging children and adults to pick up a book and delve into new worlds is great fun.  

Memories box and Artline pens

Anyway, I was pottering around the shops last week looking for some crafting bits and pieces when I spotted this wooden memories box and thought it could look just like a book!  Even the hinges on the side of it looked like fancy patterns on the spine of an old book so I decided to buy one and turn it into a story themed keepsake box.

Alice in Wonderland

The first thing I did was design the front cover of my "book".  I cut out a piece of paper the same size as the photo area in the front of the box and then drew Alice from Alice in Wonderland using my Artline Stix drawing and brush pens.

Painting the cover

Next I painted the outside of the wooden box with a blue poster marker to look like the cover of a book and then left it to dry for about 15 minutes.  

Painting along the edges

I also painted along the edges of the box to complete the book look....

Adding the finishing touches

... and then coloured in the inside edges using an Artline Supreme brush marker as the nib was finer and easier to use on the smaller surface.

The spine of my "book"

Once all the paint was dry I added my drawing into the photo area.  I put it in upside down so it would look like Alice when she was falling down the rabbit hole which is why I drew her hair the way I did.

My Alice in Wonderland themed keepsake box

Doesn't it look just like a book?

Things that remind me of Alice in Wonderland

Now what would you put inside this keepsake box?  I have a few things that remind me of Alice like a blue flower hair clip the same colour as her dress and a red rose brooch.  I also have a couple of vintage style cards that I was given a long time ago which I kept because the girl and the rabbit on them gave me Wonderland vibes.  Lastly I have two pins with quotes on them from the book which I need to keep safe when I'm not wearing them because I would hate to loose either them!

Kept safe inside the box

The great thing about this is you can make it into any book you or your children love!  If you don't want to draw your own cover you could print off a picture instead or use a page from a colouring book and if you wanted to change the theme at any time it's as simple as changing the picture to something else!

Enjoy the rest of World Book Day and I hope you find some time today to sit down and read either an old favourite or a discover a new one!

See you again soon!

Artline Monday - World Book Day

Did you know it is World Book Day this Thursday?  I love to read, give me a spare half hour, a good book and a cup of tea and I am in my element!  Reading opens up whole new worlds to people and can take you on all kinds of different adventures which is why World Book Day is important to me.  I thought for today's post I would share with you some activities you can do with your children to celebrate this special day!

Make some bookplates

Lots of children are being asked to dress up for World Book Day and to take their favourite books into school, make sure these treasures aren't lost by labelling them.  I brought a pack of 30 plain white sticky labels for 50p and we had lots of fun making our own bookplates over the weekend.

We made some pink and blue galaxy themed labels using a couple of Artline poster markers, a sponge, some Artline pens, glitter glue and an xclamations stamp.

Sticky labels, Artline poster markers & a sponge

We dabbed the two poster markers next to each other on a dry sponge.

Adding the colours to the sponge

Then dabbed the sponge all over the sticky labels.

Dabbing the paint onto the labels

After the paint dried we could write, draw and stamp on top of it.  Here are some of our bookplates!

Our bookplates

My girls also made a few labels on their own using lots of Artline products, it certainly kept them entertained for quite a while and now we have lots and lots of stickers for our books!

Making more labels

World Book Day rock

I wanted to do a little something to make someone smile this World Book day so I made another of our #ArtlineRocks to hide.  I used a few Artline 853 OHP markers to draw a book and cup of tea and added some steam with a paint marker.  We are going to hide this somewhere near our library and hope it will be found by someone else who loves reading!  If you want to have a go at rock painting with your children make sure you check out my previous posts for some tips and ideas!

World Book Day 2018 rock

Visit your local library

This week is the perfect time to stop by the library and pick out some new books together.  Even the smallest library can hold hundreds of books to choose from so you should be able to find something you will enjoy.  If you aren't already members take a look at your council/library website to see what paperwork they will accept to sign you up for a card before you go.

I hope you have a fabulous World Book Day and find some time to dive into a good book, I am planning on cracking open an old favourite and re-exploring The Shire and the rest of Middle-earth!