Every evening at bedtime we tell my three year old daughter a ‘story from the head’. She absolutely loves these made-up stories, especially as they usually feature her as the hero. Her favourite, though, are the stories that feature the adventures of her most beloved soft toy, Monkey, who is known to be very, very naughty.

I thought it might be a fun idea to bring one of these stories to life as a book using photographs of Monkey getting up to mischief. I had to time the photography very carefully, as Monkey is not often out of her sight! I used simple text to tell a story about everything Monkey gets up to when nobody is home – from watching TV to playing with all her toys. Monkey was a very compliant subject but I also used a pin to hold his paws in place to make him look more lifelike.

I printed the book using our Little Moments format because it has 24 pages and thick pages, but you could also try our book for babies, My First Photo Book, which is specially made for younger children with easy turn, thick pages. If you’ve taken the photos with your phone then it’s really easy to make either of these books on your phone. The whole project took me under an hour.

Top tips for photographing soft toys:

• Use pins and a ruler and tape to hold the toy in place while you photograph
• Take more pictures than you need
• Try different angles for a more interesting shot