Crafting With Kids: Rough It Up

Thank you for joining me today! It has been a slow start to summer here in Seattle. We are finally beginning to see the sunshine - can you see us doing the happy dance?!? I find it interesting how our kids look forward to summer and free time, but then they don't know what do during their free time. Hopefully if you have kids in your house, asking what they can do, some of these ideas will be helpful.

I firmly believe that boys should have the opportunity to be creative as well. In fact they should have a little push in the right direction - LOL! So the activities that I thought might appeal to them will be the more "active" types of craft projects and they will probably involve machines ;-D

This first card is so incredibly simple and I can see kids creating a series using the fun new collection from Basic Grey called Oliver. It is so wonderful to see a manufacturer put together a line that will appeal to the boys in our lives!

Teach them to insert the notecards into the embossing folders and crank them through the Big Shot. Watching the texture appear as you rough them up will be so much fun! Tim Holtz's newest folders called Fades (scroll down towards the bottom of this page) have a bunch of different designs that boys will find appealing - yeah! Not only do I love the fact that there are some more masculine designs, but I love how the designs are not even throughout - I love how they fade in and out.

I love the little pieces that come in the Sticker Elements collection. The self-adhesive makes it easy to stick and go. Leave them as is or show them how to color in portions of the designs.

I added a hint of color to the smoke-stack. I could have also added color to the headlights or the front grill, but wanted to keep this project super easy. Each sticker element will allow for different types of creativity. I would show them one example and then let them run with it and use their own creative thinking. Allow them to do what they would like - it doesn't have to be perfect in our eyes. It should be fun and empowering in theirs.

Let them use the Gummies to add depth to their cards. I think that kids will find these little pieces particularly appealing because of the texture.

So get those boys behind your machines cranking out some texture for their own projects or yours!

 
paper: Basic Grey Oliver 6x6 Paper Pad and Sticker Elements, Memory Box Dove Gray Notecards and Envelopes

accessories: Rays and Retro Circles Fades Texture Folder, Basic Grey Oliver Gummies
  

Comments

[Julia Stainton]

love this ellen! as a mom of four boys I can confirm that they do like machines. My two teen boys love my crop-a-dile and are most impressed with the power behind it.