Imaginisce Snag 'Em Stamps meet American Crafts Ink

We had a fun partnership this month with American Crafts Ink and Imaginisce's Snag 'Em stamps.  I can't imagine anyone has yet to discover the Snag 'Em stamps that accompany every paper line Imaginisce releases, but if you haven't make sure to take a run on over to the their website and take a peek.  These cute, inexpensive stamps come in six different images for each and every line. 

For this project, I chose to mix and match a couple of stamp sets:  Enchanted and the new Bon Voyage line with  Leaf and Chestnut American Crafts ink.  The result is a fun little matching game for my girls.  Take a peek.

I'm sure you can all guess why I chose to use the Enchanted stamps, me having three girls in the house and all.  The circle frame stamp from the Bon Voyage line made a great frame for my title.  I hand doodled a scallop edge around the stamp and then used my liquid pearls to create a dotted design around the perimeter.  Notice how dark and beautiful that Chestnut American Crafts ink is.

What makes this game a little different than others we have here at home is the binding ring.  Since they are round, I wanted to create a quick and easy way to clean up and store the game pieces.  The binding ring seemed like the perfect solution.

Here's the baby trying to get in on the action!

That's all I have for now but you can be sure to see more goodies from the Bon Voyage line real soon so please stop by again.  In the meantime, be sure to visit the Imaginisce blog for the next three days for more fun projects with this great product pairing.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Scrapbooking with Children: Teacher Valentines

Let me first go on the record and say that I LOVE the Dollarama for projects like this.  I got big packages of XL foam hearts, felt hearts, lace doilies, gems, etc. etc. for the girls to make Valentines with.  There is more than enough of everything to keep them busy scrapping long after we are done making Valentine's Day projects.

This is what we came up with for my daughter's teachers.  The photo is size 3x4.

The "Just for You" stamp is part of the Mention Stamp Set from myStamp BOX.  This is such a versatile set with all kinds of fun and interesting fonts.

As you can see, we've had Valentine's Day projects on the go for awhile now and we're still not done yet.  I asked my husband the other day what in the world is going to take the place of all the Valentine's Day things we've been doing these past few weeks.  As always, he has the best answers.  BABY!  That is what is going to occupy all of our attentions.  So we're good until Easter!!

Valentines for School

A few weeks ago, I invested in some heart punches.  Since my girls (ages 4 and 2) love to scrapbook so much, we decided to try them out one day and what evolved from there was a set of 37 Valentines for my daughter's pre-school classmates.  It ended up being such an enjoyable experience, I thought I'd share the project with all of you.

Supplies:

-3 different size heart punches (We used the Marvy Uchida purple scallop heart and pink heart) and a fancy heart punch by Martha Stewart)
-1 bag of glittered foam hearts from the Dollar Store
-box of scrap paper and cardstock

1.  The first thing we did was spend some time going through the scrap paper box and finding papers that matched.

2.  I punched the hearts out while the girls glued the pieces together.  By the end, they were getting really good at lining the hearts up properly.

3.  My daughter printed her name on the back of ALL the cards.  What great practice for a 4 year old.

4.  We embellished the top with a glittered heart.

5.  Repeat. 

We made about 6 or 8 cards each time until we had enough for the entire class. Each day we laid the Valentines out and counted them all and picked which ones were our favourites.

The Dollar Store also has packages of 10 Valentine's Day themed pencils, so I got those to go with the Valentines instead of candy this year. 

Next up, cards for her teachers.

Christmas Craft

I am always on the look out for fun little craft projects to make with the girls.  I saw this reindeer idea on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog last week so we gave it a try.  We cut out enough hand and foot prints so that the girls could make their own and that I would have a set left over for me.  Here is a page I made with one of my sets.

Here is a detail shot of the journaling block stamp from myStamp BOX.  I use this set over and over.

There is another cute idea on that same blog post using hand prints and paint.  That one is next on the list so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by.

"Wow, Mommy, WOW!"

Magnetic Alphabet Board

Believe it or not, this project was inspired indirectly by a stainless steel refrigerator. Since they are not magnetic, we can't use any of the wonderful alphabet magnets and games that kids just love in our home. When the Journaling Sprouts Contest was announced, it dawned on me to magnetize the journaling sprouts and create my own alphabet board game.

I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together -once I figured out the appropriate paint to use on the cookie sheet. (Thanks, Erin!) I won't deny it was a labour of love with all the layers of paint, ink, glue, journaling sprouts, chipboard, embellies and diamond glaze. BUT the reaction I got from my daughter made it all worth it.

"Wow, Mommy, WOW!",she said when I showed her.

I'm still smiling.

(click on photos to enlarge)

The green border around the perimeter is a stamp from myStamp BOX. I LOVE this set.

Each of the letters has some sort of texture and dimension. I used metal, acrylic, felt, ribbon, gems, etc. etc. to make the whole thing a tactile experience as well. I dug deep in my embellishment box for some of these little treasures.

Each of the letter cards is coated in diamond glaze. Hopefully they will hold up to some of the wear and tear of two toddlers.
I used an ENTIRE bottle on this one project!

Supplies: Journaling Sprouts (Jillibean Soup), Paper (Jillibean Soup), Letters (Jillibean Soup, Cosmo Cricket), Stamps (myStamp BOX, Unity, Sassafras Lass), Felt (Sassafras Lass, Dollar Store), Hedge Hog & Bee (My Little Bit of Whimsy), Flower (Bazzill), Metal (Making Memories, Dollar Store), Chipboard (Bo Bunny, Pink Paislee, American Crafts), Bling (Prima, Creative Imaginations), Acrylic (Clear Scraps), Ribbon (Michaels), Key hole (Melissa Frances), Leaf Pin (Maya Roads)
Here she is playing with her new toy. All my youngest wants to do right now is throw the letters. LOL

We used the board a few ways today:

-We arranged the letters in the correct order.

-We spelled words. (Note to self: Make some extra letters so she can spell her own name.)

-We learned some new words (like hedge hog).

-We also related the letters to the pictures on the cards.

Can you tell I'm a teacher?? LOL

Instructions:

-Spray cookie sheet with a white latex primer. Allow board to dry between coats.
-Cut patterned paper to size and adhere around inside edges of cookie sheet with Mod Podge.

-Once dried, top paper with another thin coat of Modge Podge to seal.

-Stamp design around perimeter of cookie sheet using Staz-On ink.

To create letter pieces:

-Layer chipboard, journaling sprouts, letters and embellishements...the more the better.

-Top with Diamond Glaze.
-Attach magnets to the back of each letter with hot glue.

ENJOY!!

Scrapbooking with Children: Fingerprint Animals

I am always looking for something new to try with the girls and a few weeks ago Icecheeks directed me to a blog where the cutest little birds were made with fingerprints. From there, I googled fingerprint art and found many other examples. Here are a few that we made today.

And here are the birds used on a card:

Supplies: Paper (Jillybean Soup), Stamps (My Stamp BOX), Bamboo clip (Magic Scraps), Cardstock (Prsim), misc. gems

Scrapbooking with Children: Self Portraits

The May/June issue of Scrapbooks Etc. had a self portrait page done by Vicki Boutin and her son. Since I'm always looking for ways to include my girls in crafts, I knew we would have to try it. All we did was select a photo of the girls and some background paper. Then we raided my scrap box to find the colours we needed to make the collage. We worked on the project over two days. The first day was spent selecting paper scraps and cutting them up. I did this step on my own. The second day, I sketched a rough outline on the background paper and we glued all the pieces on. We put it all together in about an hour. Callie worked on one side of the protrait while I worked on the second with Julia on my lap. It got "interesting" a few times but we managed to get it all together. It now sits framed on Callie's dresser and she is just thrilled since she had a part in making it.



And here is the masterpiece as it sits displayed in her bedroom. Isn't it just adorable?


What are some crafty ideas you do with your children? I'd love to do things like this more often.

The newest scrapper in the house!

At Treasured Scrapbooking last weekend, Julie issued a challenge to create a background paper using paint and stamps. The catch was to have your child do the stamping. Callie and I tackled this one on Sunday morning and here is the result. We are both thrilled.

Now the morning conversation has changed to:

"Mommy, I want to gap (scrap)."
"Mommy, I want to paint."
"Mommy, I want to paint right NOW!"
repeat

LOL

EDITED to ADD: This page was published in Scrapbook Trends' Stamping Idea Book (May, 2009)