A wonderful little gift for friends

For the past several years, I've been making these sweet little gifts for my women friends, as well as for teenage and college-age girls.  Read on for an explanation:

Every year for the last I-don't-know-how-many, Ashley at Under the Sycamore has offered a free download of these  "Best of My Days" cards. Briefly, they are pages for each month with a line for each day. They serve as mini-journals for each month.  Ashley's idea is that at the end of each day, one thinks through the day and notes down the best thing that happened.  I keep mine on my nightstand and write a few words at the end of each day.  It has really helped me with keeping track of things I am grateful for, and provides blog fodder for my "Friday five" posts.

When I give these as gifts,  the recipients seem to really like them.   Even busy young moms who could never find time to journal can often find a moment to jot down a phrase or sentence.

When I first started making these I was having trouble finding the looseleaf rings to use in the corner, to hold the pages together and make it easy to turn from month to month.  So I used a smallish carabiner clip instead, which I actually find more fun because they come in all different colors which can then be coordinated with the wrappings.  I'm still using those!

As you will see when you go to Ashley's blog, the fun of gifting these is in the decorating and embellishing of wrapping them up.  Ashley gets really, really creative with her wrappings, so you will want to check out her ideas for inspiration.  


I tend to take the easy way and use gift wrap or other paper items (the wrapper at the top of the post is from the front of a church bulletin).  Fabric, calendar pages, pages from magazines or catalogs, are other ideas -- and if you have something like a vintage magazine or other paper treasure that you don't want to cut up, simply scan the item.   I actually keep a "Best of my Days" manila folder and keep ideas and items for wrapping,  in it from year to year.  Below are a few of the wrappings I have put together:

This was from a Vermont Country Store catalog cover.  I embellished it with snowflake buttons and bakers twine.

Another made from a Vermont Country Store catalog.  This one has some jingle bells and a plaid ribbon.

Another from a church bulletin.  Snowflake button and Christmas bulb beads.

Another from a Vermont Country Store catalog cover.  This one has an embellishment I made from a round paper tag and a snowflake bead, plus a wintry tag cut from an old Christmas card.

Same as above but with a blue handmade tag from a friend tied on.

You've seen this one before too but the embellishments and tag are different.

Here is the link to download the files for this year: Best of My Days 2020.


I haven't printed mine out yet.  This is one of those projects you can do at (almost) the last minute, yet still feels so creative and festive because you are having so much fun with the wrappings. 

On Instagram, someone asked Ashley if she saves her own completed "Best of my Days" from year to year.  (I tend to throw mine away.)  She replied that she keeps them in a box and then she has a mini record of things that happened in the various years.  So that's a thought!

Hope some of you will try this fun and ingenious idea!