Teaching my 2-Year-Old Niece How to Stamp

I posted this on my craft blog first, but thought it was appropriate for this blog as well :)

A couple of weeks ago I visited my family in San Diego. I'm itching to be able to craft with my niece, Madison, but she's still just a little too young. But she always shows an interest in my crafting supplies (in addition to my makeup), so I thought she would have fun learning how to stamp. She loves animals, so I got out the Life's a Jungle stamp set, a few colors of ink, and a plain white sheet of cardstock. I demonstrated for her a couple of times, then she went to town! She totally got the concept of tapping the stamp onto the ink a few times, but then every time she stamped the image onto the paper she did the same thing--tapped it a few times. So she always had at least 3 (usually partial) images on the paper. It was adorable!

She loved picking out the animals from clear sheet of acetate that the stamps come on. Then I'd put the clear stamp on the block, and she'd have at it. Once I cleaned a stamp to use a new one, I let her put it back on the sheet. It was like a puzzle for her...a good learning activity :)

At one point I stamped the lion on her hand. Then she wanted it on her other hand. Then she proceeded to take her sandals off and wanted her feet stamped. I used the fishy from the new Hot Diggity stamp set on her feet.
She is at an age where she loves copying. So she added more stamps to her hands and arms. And instead of stamping her feet, she simply added the acrylic stamps right onto them! She's so funny. This girl was covered in ink and had a giant smile on her face when we were finished. Mom may not have been too happy, but Auntie and Maddie sure had fun!!

CLEANING TIP: Madison leaned into the ink pad a few times and got ink on her cute little shirt. We used a combination of Zout and Shout stain removers, let it soak, then scrubbed w/ a toothbrush and the ink came out of the fabric after it was washed.

Here's a pic later that day of Maddie loving on her baby brother, Connor. She still doesn't quite get the concept of "gentle," so her loving usually gets interrupted quickly by Mommy :)

Fabulous Christmas Scrapbook pages.

I normally don't post crafty stuff on this blog, but I quite impressed myself with these pages so I needed to double post. (In case you, my few dear readers, are interested, I have a craft-only blog, which I update more frequently.)

As you know from my previous post, I went to Mammoth over Thanksgiving weekend...where I'm most inspired to craft. I made this layout, which I spent way too much time on, but love the outcome. You will find similar layouts on pages 8 and 11 of the Close to my Heart Autumn/Winter Idea Book. I absolutely adore those layouts and have wanted to recreate them ever since I laid eyes on them in August! Each page will hold a 5"x7" picture of mine and my husband's side of our family. (The left side looks like it should hold an 8"x10"...but I don't like putting photos that big in my scrapbook. 8x10's are for framing. So that photo will have a big border.) Click the photos to see them larger.

(don't mind the spoon, it's just holding the pages up!)

Every stamp I used is from the Holiday Trinkets Stamp Set (my favorite!) and the paper is Jingle. To make the ornaments, I used second generation and rock 'n roll stamping techniques. First, I inked up the ornament stamp. Then I stamped it onto scratch paper. Without re-inking, i rolled just the edges of the stamp in the ink again. Then I stamped the image onto my white cardstock, cut it out, and adhered it to the page with 3D glue dots. The Olive cardstock on the left side of the page is random-stamped with the "Deck the Halls" stamp.

To make the crumpled paper, I cut the paper to the size I needed (about 1" x 3"). Then I lightly spritzed it with my stamp spritz cleaner (because it was handy and already in a spritz bottle...but water will do the job). Once it was evenly damp, I crumpled the paper (careful not to go too crazy, the paper will tear). I flattened it out and formed it how I wanted it, then let it dry. It's adhered to the page with glue dots.

The "pine needles" were time consuming, but totally worth it. And actually not very hard. I just cut a bunch of curved strips of Olive Cardstock (cut more than you think you will need). Once they were all cut, I sponged them in Olive ink to get them more depth. I adhered them to the page with a glue pen.

The trees on page 2 are more time-consuming than the pine needles. First I stamped the trees in Olive ink all the way across the strip of white cardstock. Then I second-generation stamped the trees a couple times on a separate piece of white cardstock (stamp first on scratch paper, then on cardstock to give lighter color). I cut out each tree on the extra cardstock and sponged the edges, then used a glue pen to glue them over some of the trees on the white strip. The ornaments are colored with a tulip marker, then used a glue pen to add glitter on top.

This flurry dimensional element makes the whole page come together! I used spray adhesive on the entire snowflake, then sprinkled glitter over it. (Tip: Put your dimensional element on a few sheets of scratch paper, then go outside and spray it. Throw the scratch paper away before glittering or the glitter will stick to it.) I adhered the snowflake with 3D foam so that it is raised above the felt piece it is covering.

The "J" and "Y" are dimensional elements that I covered with paper. Tip: When covering chipboard with paper, file the edges when you're done to give a smooth (and distressed, if you'd like) finish.