Crafting with Kids

Since I started blogging my crafting accomplishments in February, I have been doing a lot more crafting, and finishing many more projects. It feels great to be using my supplies. I feel more like a crafter now, versus a collector...or heaven forbid....A HOARDER!!!! Well, with more crafting means I spend more time in my craft room, which also means the kids want to be in there with me too. It can at times be a little crazy, to say the least. The kids love to look at all my stamps, inks, ribbon etc. Sometimes it looks as if a tornado hit the room after we are ALL finished with it. Most of the time our craft room adventures end with me yelling at the kids and banning them from the room.

Finally I wised up.....
Tip of the Day: Don't fight your kids need to be with you, embrace it. When you are crafting, encourage your children to craft with you. I set a TV tray/"craft desk" for my daughter right next to mine, so she could work on projects too while I am working on mine. We set specific rules for using my materials (ie. one stamp set and ink at a time, clean stamps after each use and put back materials before getting out new [that's one rule I need to learn to follow]. It has been great, and we really enjoy our crafting time. I have also found that because I have allowed her to craft with me using some of my "special" materials, there isn't as big of a desire to get in and use what is forbidden. Granted there a still some crazy times, but far less than before. Note the craziness occurring right in the background of the below picture as her little bro tries to get into supplies on my other table. Looks like we need to bring in his blocks or Lego's. Here is an example of a little project she worked on to give to her cousins for Easter. We started with a carton of Whoppers.

I stamped the cute rabbit figures from the CTMH Sensational stamp set to create an Easter scene, mounted it on some card stock and scored fold lines to place around the carton. My daughter loved coloring the intricate stamp images. It was better than a coloring book.

We glued them around the carton added a handle and some crinkled up paper. They made perfect little gifts for her cousins. She was proud to give them.

~Amy