January 8, 2009

Stamping with the girls...

Edit: I have a link HERE that shows more tent topper cards, along with the measurements. There are more links in that post too for other tent topper designs.

Over the holiday vacation, my girls had lotsof friends over to spend the night. One day, we did a Sister Swap. My Jordy went over to friend's house and we had her sister Brittney stay with Josey. Brittney is an 8th grader, so for my 6th grader Josey it was a BIG thing. The morning before the Sister Swap was to end, I invited Brittney and Josey into my stamp room to make some Valentine cards. Brittney was in heaven and I even got my outdoorsy girl Josey to stamp! We were all in grey t-shirts, pink pajama pants and fuzzy socks and slippers....bed heads and all!I took about 15 minutes and prepped the girls' workspace. I knew Brittney loves pink so I reached for my Papertrey cardstock in Raspberry Fizz and the beautiful new Papertrey Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper pack. Ohhhhh my, are these papers fun and so fruit punchy colored! I love them!! I cut enough supplies for each of the girls to make 4 cards. I chose my Tent Topper design since I knew that this design would be fun for the girls.
We used one set for the card designs, which was Papertrey's Heart Prints and Sentiments. The girls loved picking out which large and small hearts to use for their cards. The patterns in the heart stamps coordinate wonderfully with the Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper. Josey chose polka dots and Brittney chose flowers.
We finished off the cards with fun, black and white ribbons. The girls also stamped matching A2 size envelopes. There they are above with some of their finished cards.
Above are Josey's cards, I love how the girls stamped smaller hearts and then used the Small Heart Punch to pop up a punched heart.
Above are Brittney's cards. She's an organized little thing....lining up all her envies just so, prepping her cards for the photo. She'll make a good stamper!
And to finish off the presentation, I let the girls package up their cards in a Papertrey Clearly Creative Card Box. I showed them how to package their cards so that the card front showed through the front and the decorated envelope showed through the back of the box....like a boutique would do. We tied up their packages with black and white ribbon. The girls had a blast!! I loved helping them with their cards and best of all, we chatted and chatted. Little do they know that we moms love the chatting part.

Do you have some great kids in your life? I highly suggest inviting them to stamp with you. Keep the projects simple, prepare all the supplies in advance and keep the time to less than an hour. The kids will LOVE it, I promise....and you'll get a big, fat, swelled up heart from the great conversations you'll have and bonding you'll do. Now is the time to show kids that you care so that they'll talk to you about the BIG stuff when they get older. Kids are naturally creative, and stamping is a great way to let them express some of that creativity. Our grade schools have cut out art programs, so I find this even more important. Try it, you'll have a great time!!!
One more added note: Don't forget about having your children send thank you notes or other types of greeting cards. In this day and age of modern technology (IPods, cell phones, computers, etc), I think some kids never learn how to properly write a letter or address and envelope. Don't let the tradition of letter writing die out with your kids. We just got our Christmas thank you's done and even though you might hear some grumbles, your kids will thank you when they grow up...hopefully! :)

26 comments:

Chris said...

What a great time for you to share with them! I regret that my 12 year daughter refuses to stamp with me anymore - and doesn't even want to take a handmade card anywhere. sigh... You are so right that it is a special time. I may try again with her! :)

Karen said...

The girls did an amazing job. Beautiful cards. Even though my kids are grown, when they come over on Christmas day to open presents from us and family, they always do their thank you cards before leaving the house. It is a practice I started when they were young and continues today. They need to know how important expressing gratitude is, especially to elderly people. It really brightens their day.

Dottie K. said...

The girls made some beautiful cards. They should be very proud of their work. Love the packaging. That is a wonderful way to bond with children. I made a kit for a 8X8 page for my niece who is 6 and let her put it together anyway she wanted to. She was so excited and I told her I would put it on a 12X12 page in her scrapbook. I was just amazed at what she did. I want to thank you for that wonderful idea. I'm going to be doing more of this with her. She loves to make cards so maybe I'll try this next. I'll post it on my blog when I'm feeling better. Hope you have a great day. :)

Cassandra said...

This is great !! You are so inspiring.. My 6 year old boy/ girl
twins love to get into my scrap supplies... Can't wait till they want to follow instructions. till then they are creating their own master pieces... Love it !!! I'm so addicted to your blog.. Thanks for all your inspiration !!

Anonymous said...

It is awesome that you profiled these wonderful girls and their projects on your blog! I know my kids love to play too and my 6 yr old tries to come up with sketches too! It is so important that kids learn to write a thank you note - so THANK YOU for pointing that out.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! The girls look like they're having a blast. Pajama parties are so much fun:) The cards that both girls did are adorable! So girly:)

Anonymous said...

Mish, you are creating such wonderful memories for your girls! The cards are beautiful! It's no wonder they were thrilled with the process. And good for you for instilling in your girls the importance of writing thank you cards. I'm going to go finish MINE right now! :-)

Courtney Baker said...

That looks like one fun night! I actually love having my 3 year old nephew over to play in my craft room. He love sissors, and I have ton of decorative ones that are safe for him to use. I promise he could sit for house and cut away.

The girls look like they had a blast

Mandy said...

fantastic cards girls. I recently started up a cardmaking/papercraft club at the school where I work for Year 5s (9 and 10 year olds). It was a huge success last term and we are due to start again next week. So many girls were interested I am doing two sessions with 12 girls in each. We have five weeks until the end of half term so I am now trying to put a few ideas together. It's lovely to watch youngsters be creative and they have some lovely ideas. A colleague and I have made a board at school to post photos of the girls' creations. I love the idea of having everything ready for them to make their cards etc, especially as we are limited with time. Michelle your site is full of wonderful inspiration and I always look forward to popping in to see your latest creations.

Mandy

Michelle Whitlow said...

Such a great idea! My 7yr old daughter and even my (almost) 5yr old son love to stamp with me. I SO agree with you on mailing cards. I think people these days have forgotten how to send a "real" thank you!! I'm in the process of making a TON of thank you cards right now.

Debbie Fisher (debbiedee) said...

Ahhhhhh...I bet you are the coolest mom in the state! I have two boys and while the oldest (16) doesn't think it's cool to stamp with mom, the youngest (14 and very artistic) loves to stamp/draw with me and work with me in my stamp room. He knows he can use any of my things when I'm at school (he's homeschooled) as long as he puts them back.

You are so right about the bonding time. One on one the boys will really talk. We do "date" nites and I just let them talk about whatever.

PS: Tell the girls they did an awesome job!!

CreativeMish said...

What a fun project with the girls! The cards turned out very cute

Anonymous said...

Oh man, can I come to the next overnighter? This looks like so much fun! Seems at least one little "red" has been paying attention to her mom. The girls' cards are really wonderful. Give 'em a hug and tell them "good job" for me!

SueB said...

Wow - I'd say "Future Stamping Divas" but they're such t'riffic stampers already! Wowzer cards - TFS!

Michelle said...

You're exactly right about having the kids doing thank-yous, Michelle. Mine are 4 and 6 and love it because we make it fun and they know that we have to thank people for their kindness. My son wants to make cards this weekend so I am putting together a kit for him from my scraps...sort of like the kits I saw you do for your girls a while back. Glad you all had a great time - their cards are adorable.

Norine said...

they did a great job on the cards what a wonderful way to spend time with them
Hugs
Norine

Beth said...

What a great time with the red Mish! I cannot wait to do the same thing! My Razz Fizz is on the way - it was sold out when I tried to buy it last time!

Anonymous said...

I love the cards that the girls did. What are the measrumetns of ther cards and little peices? I would ove to do this with my girls.

Thanks Darci

Ellie said...

OHHH that is so wonderful my sons fight to be able to stamp with me! LOL they are 5 and 10 and even my 2 yr. DD loves "paper" lol.. I might just surprise them this weekend and start their Valentine day projects I know they would really enjoy it THANK YOU for the idea :)

-Ellie

Debbie Sherman said...

Love these! your girls did a great job!

Anonymous said...

You have such great heart. The girls did an amazing job. I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! I just placed a PTI order this morning and ordered some of that raspberry fizz paper and ink. Going on a girls stamping/scraping weekend a week from today and am going to concentrate on Valentine's Day cards. Can't wait.

Godchick said...

Awww, Michelle! You are a great mom! It is awesome you take the time to be creative and share something you love with them and their friends too. I also agree about note-writing becoming a thing of the past. It is sad. I only hope my little Bella is as excited about creating with me as yours seem to be! (She's only one right now).

Anonymous said...

These cards the girls made are just awesome, I think you have 2 pros in the making! WOW! Luv them. Since we could print, we also wrote thank you letters and I'm glad we were taught proper manners.

Karen Motz said...

You always have such wonderful projects. I love visiting your blog so I've given you an award. You can see it on my blog if you want. Thank you for all your wondeful projects and ideas.

Neabear said...

This is a great idea! I am glad the girls had a wonderful time. They made such cute cards!

Kelly Lunceford said...

What a fun mom you are! The Valentines are adorable! That is such a fun idea! I can't wait for my daughter to start having sleep overs with her friends. Thanks for the fun ideas!

Related Posts with Thumbnails