MOMMY MONDAY

Happy Mommy Monday fellow crafters. I have two daughters: Madalynn who is 5 and Ashley who is 3. For any of you moms out there, you know that toddlers are excited to learn new things and experiment with art supplies…paper, markers, scissors. From watching me scrapbook, the girls have become very interested in wanting to document their own fun adventures. I have been buying inexpensive scrapbooking items and putting them in a basket strictly for the girls to use. I have found great items that are $1 each at Target in the dollar section and also at my local Dollar Tree stores.

Finding things for the girls to scrapbook is the easiest part of the whole process. You can choose to scrapbook something that they did or simply a historic event that has been in the news. This is a wonderful keepsake to look back on when they are older.

Last week was a fantastic opportunity for the girls to not only create a scrapbook of their own, but for them to learn about the presidential inauguration. Fortunately, I was off work that day so we did have the TV on all day. As the reporters were speaking, I was writing down pieces of information such as the bible President Obama used was the one from when Lincoln became president. I bought newspapers from Inauguration Day and also the day after.

Allowing your toddler to explore the world of crafting will fuel their brain and trigger their imagination. Here is how to get started. You will need:

Cardstock and scrapbook paper…8x8 will probably work best for littler hands
Hole punch
Ribbon of any kind
Childrens scissors
Embellishments/chipboard letters
Adhesive...Crayola makes a great glue stick that goes on blue (so they know where they are gluing) but dries clear. It also has a wide stand on the bottom of the cap so that it makes it easy for the children to put down when they aren’t using it. Found at A.C. Moore for $1.79
Contact paper
Pictures or newspaper clippings

The first thing is…let your child make all the decisions. There is nothing wrong with offering suggestions, however, your child will be most proud of their finished piece if they know they truly made it themselves.

Use a nice heavy piece of cardstock for the front cover. Select the rest of the pieces of paper you want to use in the project. Punch 3 holes on the left hand side, binder style. Allow your child to pick out a ribbon that will be used to bind the scrapbook together.

Create the cover page which should be like a title page. If your child is too young to write, a good suggestion might be for you to write the title, trace it with glue and then allow your toddler to use glitter to shake over the glue. Allow your page to completely dry, if necessary. Once it is ready, laminate it using contact paper and then re-punch the holes in the side.

Create the inside pages using pictures and captions or newspaper clippings. For our Inauguration pages, we are using all newspaper clippings and some embellishments to jazzy up the pages. Madalynn is writing some pieces of information that we learned while watching TV. Both of them will be using their own scissors to cut

out the newspaper articles. Their glue sticks and regular glue are all ready to go!

Once all of the inside pages are complete, you are ready to create the back page. I like to paint the kids hands using acrylic craft paint and pushing it down onto paper. Once dry, allow the child to sign the bottom. We always put “Creations by Madalynn” followed by the date. Let your child be creative with their “signature”…you could have a Picasa on your hands! After this is complete and the worries of smudging are gone, laminate this with contact paper and re-punch.

Have your child lace the string through the holes and tie it at the bottom. Another thought…you could use a setter to create a small hole punch and then use large enough brads to hold the book together…I guess it all depends on how many pages are in your creation.

Have fun helping your child to create a memory book! We’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Have a art-tastic week!