DIY Doll bed

We like DIY around here. A lot. I make things for the house, but my favorite thing to do is to make things for Phee. I've made her so many little things over the years... her own key chain, a book of colors, her own lovey necklace. It's a lot of fun and especially awesome when I hit upon something that she uses at the time, but keeps coming back to months, or even years, later.

For a couple years now, I've tried to make at least one of her Christmas presents. It's fun for me and I like the creativity it sparks in Phee. We've been making things together for years now, and her first instinct when she wants something is to ask if we can make it. So, I keep making things to keep us both on our toes when it comes to being creative, reusing things at the house, and thinking outside the box.

When I was little, my Grandma Helen made me a baby doll carrier out of a fruit basket. She covered it with fabric, lined the basket, and made a little pillow and blanket to fit inside. I loved that basket and it's still at my mom's house for Phee to play with. Two years ago, I made Phee her own little bed for her babies. It's been a hit and it gets used as so many things... baby bed, cave, wall in a fort... the possibilities with Phee's imagination are endless.

This is a great little gift you can make on your own. And you can customize it so many ways. You can either put together a lot of ready-made pieces, or create a lot of pieces yourself. I did half and half. I picked a nice little basket from the Container Store. I used a travel pillow and pillowcase as the mattress. I used white felt and craft stuffing for the pillow. And then I crocheted a tiny blanket to complete the bed.

It's the perfect little bed for almost all of Phee's stuffed animals and babies. Two or three have been known to sleep in there. Phee keeps it on the floor next to her bed. It's really cute and I've always loved that she enjoys this gift so much.

Do you like to DIY gifts for your kids? What sorts of things have you made for them, or for anyone? I love to see the fantastic things that people make.

On the go busy book & crayons

This link contains Amazon Affiliate links.

Today for the Play in May challenge we're Making a Thing. I make lots of things, but today I've picked a really useful one to share with you. With so many heading to restaurants for Mother's Day this weekend, it's timely, too!

We go out a lot, especially when Doug's off weekends and we have time to catch up with friends. It's not just restaurants, though. We go to museums, coffee shops, art galleries... there's so much to do in Austin. Phee comes for all of it, too. She loves museums, especially art museums. And she's taken to ordering for herself at restaurants which is pretty darn cute.

We skipped restaurants for a while when Phee was around two years old. For a period of time, we mostly did lots of entertaining at home. A newly mobile and talkative child who wants nothing more than to explore a restaurant is cute, but also disruptive. She was always well behaved, but for the sake of warm dinners and not having to chase her, we just stayed in more.

After that age and stage passed, everything was fine. We always made sure she had some activity to do and something to color and that usually did the trick until her food arrived. This notebook has been one of the best things we've had. It's nearly full now and I'm looking for another one that's constructed the same way.

A good notebook to keep in your purse has a sturdy plastic front and a little pocket where you can stash stickers. I love these monster and robot stickers! She can make her own creations and draw pictures around them. Other good choices are themed sheets of stickers (farm and animals, undersea, zoo, etc.) that can be used to spark imagination and keep your little one entertained for a while.

To go with the notebook, I always have a pen and some crayons. We also have this cool 4-color pencil which we've gotten many times on Southwest airline flights. It comes in their kid pack and it's great. I have several little 4-pack boxes of crayons which you often get at restaurants, too. Those boxes never hold up, though, and I don't like digging for crayons in my bag. I also don't like carting a separate bag for Phee around so I wanted a solution that was simple and small.

This did the trick! A Nuun tab canister holds the crayons and pencil perfectly and doesn't take up much space in my bag. Just cut paper to fit and cover the canister and glue it on. (Side note: The Nuun tab canisters have some sort of preservative thing in the lid which can easily be removed so that it doesn't get poked and leak. We took it out and it didn't affect the lid at all.) Add some stickers or your kid's name, and then cover it with a few layers of modge podge. It's a quick fix and it's cute.

How do your kids entertain themselves when the crayons and single drawing page at restaurants have run out? Do you take notebooks along when you visit museums so your kids can record and draw what they're seeing?

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Check the links below to see what the other bloggers joining in Play in May are making this weekend. Link up with us, too!

Linked up at SITS Girls, The Recipe Critic, Mary's Kitchen, My Life of Travels & Adventures, Ladybug Blessings.

Potty Training Travel Kit

One of the things I hate most of all in this world is a public bathroom.  I absolutely hate it when I have to use one.

Guess what potty training kids really love.  Yep- bathrooms.  All of them. 

To keep my sanity and at least the vestige of cleanliness while exploring all of these public bathrooms, I put together a small bathroom travel pack.  Everything fits in a small makeup bag and can be tossed in a purse, backpack, car, carry on... anything really.

I keep this in Phee's snack bag for the car and we make sure we take it if we're going out somewhere.  I have a few extra supplies stashed in my purse, too,just in case.

We used this while we were traveling last month and it was fantastic.  It was our first real test of the kit and it served its purpose well.  We breezed right through the airport bathrooms and no one touched anything gross.  Which made me very happy.

Potty Training Travel Kit

1. Toilet seat covers.  I found a kind that is over-sized and hangs over the side of the toilet.  If your kiddo is still getting the hang of using a toilet without a training seat, this is the way to go.  The cover hangs down over the toilet so the kids can still hang on, but their hands are only touching the cover.  Genius!
2. Wet Ones sanitizer wipes.  Sometimes, little ones can't reach the sink in public restrooms.  When that happens, I use a sanitizer wipe instead of soap.
3. Sanitizer gel/spray.  Always good to use after washing hands.
4. Lysol wipes.  This is for a worst case scenario.  Sometimes things are just too gross.
5. Tissues.  I threw a slim pack of tissues into the case as a bonus.  You can never have too many tissues and you're bound to find a bathroom with no toilet paper at some point in the course of potty training.

      linked up at momnivore's dilemma  One Artsy Mama Love and Laundry Create Craft Love Just Us Four High Heels and Grills We Made That

Oatmeal Valentines

There are any number of candy-free valentine ideas out there.  Whole collections of them.  And, if you're a big Pinterest fan, like me, you've seen a bunch of these really cute ideas.  I didn't want to duplicate something that Phee might see anyway, though, and I wanted her to have something unique to give to her friends.

I have no idea how I came up with this, or what even made me think of oatmeal.  I imagine I was daydreaming while Phee was having an oatmeal bedtime snack- one of her favorites.  But, "You oat to be my Valentine" stuck in my head and made me giggle.  So, we went with it.

Cute, simple and healthy.  You can't go wrong with that combination, especially on a holiday full of chocolate and candy.  Phee gets to share one of her favorite snacks with her friends and I'm happy that we didn't add to the sugar rush of the day.

Materials

• individual oatmeal packets
• individual raisin boxes
• plastic baggies
• cardstock
• adhesive
• stapler

Directions

1. Print out the oatmeal valentine page and cut out the sayings.
2. Cut card stock to 6.5" by 3.5" (3.5" is a good minimum, but 4" works really well) and fold in half.
3. Affix the oatmeal saying to one side of the folded card stock.  Kids can write their name or personalize the valentines on the back of the folded card stock.
4. Put one oatmeal packet and one raisin box in a ziplock baggie and seal it.
5. Put one folded piece of card stock, with oatmeal saying affixed, over the top of the sealed baggie and staple it in place.

{the labels for the baggies- just copy and paste it into Word to resize it}

What fun things are your kids giving out for Valentine's day this year?  Are you looking forward to any of the treats they're likely to bring home?

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Quick and easy fall crafts

Phee and I have been making all sorts of decorations for fall and Thanksgiving. We've got next Thursday covered! These are all simple projects. And the prep time for each is minimal so you can easily get one of these crafts ready during nap time or after dinner.

Surprisingly, we haven't tackled turkeys yet this year. I'm sure we'll make at least one of those this weekend so that we have something to decorate the dinner table on Friday when we have our Thanksgiving dinner.

And then, it's on to Christmas!

 {Acorn People}

You need acorns and tops, googly eyes, a permanent marker, a glue gun and some embellishments. Glue on the eyes, glue the embellishments to the tops or to the acorns, affix hats, draw a mouth and you're good to go!

 {Paper Scarecrows}

You need construction paper, gingerbread/body shape, scrapbook paper, yellow tissue paper, glue/adhesive.

We had some die cut gingerbread person shapes already so we started with those. Glue one down to your construction paper background. Use another to trace the scrap paper for pants, shirt, vest, jacket, and hat. Glue various clothes to the scarecrow. Cut out corn stalks and glue on bits of wadded up yellow tissue paper for corn. Add some crows flying around for fun.

{Tissue Paper Trees}

You need tissue paper in fall or leaf colors, brown construction paper for trunks, construction paper background, glue.

Cut up the tissue paper into squares, cut out a trunk shape, glue it all down and create some pretty fall leaf scenes.

{Magazine Leaf Trees}

You need magazine pages covered with fall colors, a large piece of paper, adhesive, and crayons to draw a trunk. 

I cut various leaf shapes out of fall-colored magazine pages. Then we drew a tree trunk and started gluing down the magazine leaves.

Felt Halloween puppets {kid craft}

Phee and I talked about making a pumpkin puppet for Halloween.  That little project morphed into three big puppets and a thrown together puppet theater.  But it was a lot of fun!

{cuteness with a puppet}

This is an easy project and you can make any kind of puppet... pick a favorite story; make monsters, animals or family members; pick a favorite movie; pick a holiday.  

We chose a pumpkin, spider and ghost for our Halloween puppets.  We cut the felt out and used tacky fabric glue to adhere the two pieces together.  The glue didn't hold though.  My mom was there and quickly sewed all three puppets together while Phee had a bath.  The glue did hold the googly eyes which Phee stuck on each puppet.  She was not crazy about the eight eyes I put on the Spider, but I thought it was really cute.

{my favorite puppet}

Our puppet theater was made out of an old fitted sheet.  I cut a large window out of it after hanging it on the table.  The window was rather large, though, and proceeded to gape open.  So, I gathered the fabric together tightly at the bottom corners of the window and fastened them all together with safety pins.  Not expert construction by any means, but it got the job done.  Phee has a fun puppet theater that we can throw up on the table quickly, or fold up for storage easily. 

{poor lighting... we were having so much fun we forgot to turn lights on}

Materials

• felt
• tacky glue, hot glue, or needle & thread
• googly eyes

{trace those little hands}

Directions

1. Lay out your felt and lightly trace the puppet shape you want with a pen.  It's a good idea to lay your child's hand on the felt while you're doing this to make sure that you leave enough room for their hand to fit in the opening.
2. Cut out your felt pieces.
3. Glue or sew them together.
4. Glue on any embellishments, like googly eyes, that you want to add.
5. Get creative and make up stories for your puppets to act out!

linked up at

Just Us Four

One Artsy Mama
Blissful and Domestic
Love and Laundry
 momnivore's dilemma
Real Housewives of Riverton
High Heels and Grills

Football player Halloween costume

Last year, Phee was a football player for Halloween. It turned out to be a pretty easy costume. In fact, it took me longer to track down all the pieces than it did to put the whole thing together. If you need a last minute costume, you can totally pull this off.

{happiest little football player ever}

Pick your team. For us, it was the Rams. (Well for Doug and his dad.) Gramp was in town over Halloween last year so we picked an old school player and design for the jersey. Phee had a gold Merlin Olsen jersey and it was awesome.

What you need

• sweatpants or knit pants
• sweatshirt or t-shirt
• sports socks (found these in the boys' section)
• tennis shoes
• face paint or sports eye black
• helmet
• printable iron on transfers
• felt
• duct tape

{the costume ready to go}

What you do

1. Find a pants/shirt combination that works. For us, it was navy blue knit pants and a gold t-shirt one size bigger than what Phee was in.
2. Create your design or find a team logo online. We used an old school Rams design from a notebook. I downloaded a block font for the back of the t-shirt. Before you print on the iron on transfers, be sure to reverse your images so that they will be right side up on the shirt.
3. Follow the directions to print and iron on the designs.
4. Phee's shirt was too big so I folded the hem under and duct taped it so she could wear the shirt again later.
5. Turn the shirt inside out. Fold up a piece of felt into a square and duct tape it to the shoulder of the shirt to create shoulder pads.
6. Get dressed and pull the socks over the pants so that the striped sports socks are showing.
7. If you're lucky enough to have a helmet, wear it!

{playing games}

Phee loved her costume. Gramp and Dad thought it was pretty awesome. My favorite moment... while jumping in the bouncy house at her school's fall festival, one of the dads did a double take and asked me if she was Merlin Olsen. Why yes, yes she was. 

{she ate like a football player, too}

What's your best Halloween costume DIY?

Toddler Keychain

Phee asks to drive the car all the time.  She loves to play with my keys, often swiping them and running away, giggling like crazy.  Oddly, she's never had toy keys.

A few weeks ago, we received a couple junk mailers with keys attached to them.  You know these, right?  "We've mailed out the matching key.  Come to the dealership and try yours!"  I tossed them, but luckily hadn't emptied the recycling bin yet so I was able to dig them back out.  (Yes, I realize I shouldn't recycle them with the keys still attached.  This was right after our return from vacation and I was busy.)  I also dug around and found a few old keys that don't seem go to anything anymore.  At least not anything I can remember.

In my craft stash, I found a large metal ring to hold the keys.  But, I couldn't find any old key chains, or anything that could double as a key chain.  So, I decided to make one for Phee's keys.

I created two 3" x 2" shapes in Publisher.   Each got a nice border.  One one side, I added buttons with the lock and unlock symbols.  On the other side I added buttons with a house and a car. 

{key chain templates}

Materials

• old keys
• metal craft ring
• card stock
• hole punch
• clear packing tape

Directions

1. Use my template, or create your own key chain design
2. Cut both sides out
3. Fold a piece of card stock and trace the shape of your key chain on the front
4. Cut out the traced shape on the extra card stock (provides some bulk for the key chain)
5. Hole punch each piece of card stock and key chain piece
6. Line them up evenly and carefully apply clear packing tape to laminate and seal the key chain
7. Repunch the hole once you're finished laminating the key chain

It doesn't make noise, but Phee has had a lot of fun pretending to lock and unlock the front door and car doors.  Most mornings she'll grab the keys on the way out the door.  When I gave her the finished project she entertained herself for twenty minutes with her keys and her bag pretending to drive to school.

Have your kids gone through a key phase like this?  And how do you manage if you have the actual plastic toy keys that make sounds?  I can't handle those!

linked up at
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Real Housewives of Riverton
 momnivore's dilemma
Kids Get Crafty - Red Ted Art
Becoming Martha

Love & Laundry
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 Create Craft Love
Bowdabra Blog
Toddler Approved
We Made That


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Vacation Treasure Chest

Phee loves to collect rocks. And sticks. And sometimes leaves. Some weeks, my car floors look like a forest threw up because she finds so many treasures that she wants to keep or take home to show Doug.

In just a few days, we're headed out on a two week vacation to see Doug's parents and then to spend time with friends on Cape Cod. Doug's parents have a big yard and his mom has beautiful flower beds. We've got beach time planned with them and then another full week at the beach.

With this looming ahead, I was struck with the thought that I need to try to curb Phee's habit of collecting everything she sees, or at least to contain her favorites. We can't bring it all back home, as much as I would love to.

I happened upon the clearance table at the grocery store a few weeks ago and noticed a 10-pack of rectangular plastic containers. Knowing we'd use them eventually for lunches or something else, I grabbed a package. It's the perfect size for the project I came up with.

I created a little treasure chest for Phee to use on vacation. It's clear so she can see what she's collected, and show it off without losing any pieces. It has a handle that's long enough for her to put on her shoulder, or across her torso (like a messenger bag). If that doesn't work out, the handle can be knotted so that she can carry it. She can't open the lid herself which, at this age, I think is best so that she doesn't lose any pieces. Whichever adult she's with will be able to screen her treasures, too. I'd rather not bring home a shell which turns out to be a home, or a neat leaf full of bugs.

This is a really quick project to pull together. And it's versatile. Use it for vacation, a hike, a nature walk around the neighborhood or even as the collection container for a nature scavenger hunt. Older children could create and decorate their own treasure chest, too.

Materials

• disposable rectangular plastic container
• ribbon
• xacto knife
• printed label and decorative paper if you like
• spray sealer, packing tape or clear nail polish

Directions

• Using the xacto knife, cut two tiny holes on either short side of the container. 

• Thread the ribbon through and knot the ends so that they catch on the inside of the container and can't be pulled through the hole.

• If you want, print out a label with a title or name for the treasure chest.  You could also write a label or name on a piece of decorative paper.

• Affix the label to the lid of the container.  Again, you can add decorative paper if you like.
• Seal the label with a clear sealer, clear packing tape or clear nail polish.

I used a clear spray sealer that I use on lots of projects. After three coats, the paper was puckered up in a couple places, but not actually wrinkled. I smoothed it out and used clear nail polish to seal the edges of the label. I'm hoping the combination will be enough to keep the label from coming off while dirty toddler hands play with it for two weeks.

An easy, fun project that you can pull together quickly before vacation. Your little one will have a fantastic time collecting treasures on their trip. And they will be able to keep sharing their vacation stories and treasures long after they've come home.

 

linked up at

Real Housewives of Riverton

Made in a Day
momnivore's dilemma
Red Ted Art

Just Us Four

Two Sasters
Bowdabra blog
Toddler Approved (Kid's Co-op)

Lovey Necklace

My sweet Phee started summer camp at what will be her new school in the fall. Last week was her first week and the first three days went really well. Thursday morning, she had a bit of a problem when I dropped her off. Followed by an anxious night of worrying and not sleeping. Friday morning drop off was a disaster with her crying and glued to me. And then I cried in the car (again).

We spent Friday and Saturday trying to decide what to do. It's a big change for her, and for all of us. It's a different language, a different place, a different learning environment, different people... lots of change all at one time.

I decided to make Phee a little lovey necklace for Monday morning of week two. I made it quickly in the hopes that having pictures of mom and dad readily available all day would help her feel better. When the necklace was finished and she had it on Sunday night, Doug and I both talked to her about how she's never really alone- we're always with her. And when she wears her necklace, she can see us both and be reminded that we love her and we're thinking about her.

She got the necklace off its hook Monday morning and put it on herself. And, after a little coaxing into school Monday morning, she went to her desk with me and we started to get her things organized. She pulled at the necklace and I told her she should go show it to her friend and the teachers. Everyone gathered around to look at the pictures and talk about it.  Phee felt very special and proudly showed it off.

And then I got a smile when I left.

This is an easy project as long as you do a little planning ahead. You'll have to measure the size of your wooden charm and then size your pictures accordingly before you print them out. It would have been much easier if I had a printer and photo paper at home, but right now that's not the case. So I drove to Walgreens twice. Small price to pay for a happy Monday morning.

Materials

• Small wooden charm (we used a 1.5 in heart)
• Small drill bit & drill
• Acrylic paint
• Photos
• mod podge
• Clear sealer
• Ribbon, cord, necklace chain, etc

Directions

• Drill a small hole in your wooden charm. (Be sure that when you paint and mod podge, the drilled hole doesn't get filled in.)
• Paint the charm your desired color.

• Cut your pictures out and decide how you want to arrange them. I was doing this in a hurry, but wanted to "fancy it up" a little bit so I got my decorative edged scissors out and cut the pictures to look like postage stamps.

• Put a thin coat of mod podge on one side of the charm and affix one of the photos. When dry, repeat on the other side.

• Brush a coat of mod podge on one side of the charm to secure the photo. When dry, repeat on the other side.

• When the mod podge dries, spray a clear sealer on one side of the charm and let it dry. Then spray the other side.
• Thread your ribbon, cording, or necklace material of choice through the hole, measure on your child and then secure with knots.

This would be a great little project for a child just starting school, starting a new school or even starting daycare. Separation anxiety happens at a lot of ages, especially with new situations. The charm could be made into a necklace, zipper pull, key chain, or even just a little pocket lovey for an older child. There are lots of options to help reassure your child as they head into their newest adventure!

linked up at

Made in a Day

Real Housewives of Riverton
momnivore's dilemma
 House of Hepworths

Just Us Four

Two Sasters
Bowdabra blog
Toddler Approved (Kid's Co-op) 
Gemini Red Creations
A Dish of Daily Life

Bingo! {make it for kids}

Summer is vacation time.  And for a lot of families that means long car trips.  When I was little, we had a really neat car bingo game that had little plastic red windows over each bingo square.  When you saw one of the items, you slid the window down.  I loved to play car bingo!  I will still play games in the car if I have the right people with me.

There are any number of ways to keep kids occupied in the car for a long drive.  Video games and DVDs are probably the easiest choice.  But kids can watch movies at home on the couch.  It's far more fun to connect with the surroundings on a trip.  You can see some amazing things if you just look out the window for a little while.

To that end, when some friends of ours were making a long drive for a family wedding, I created some car bingo games for their two young boys.  The games were portable and reusable and easily tucked into the seat pocket, door pocket or next to a car seat even.  The pen was attached, too, which is key for travel games.  I'm looking forward to using these boards to play bingo with Phee when she's older and we travel!

Each board is different.  I used different sets of free clip art to create each board.  One has more squares so that it's more of a challenge for older kids.  The other two have fewer items so that younger children can play along, too.  And, one is just car colors which is fun for everyone, even the driver (as long as some one else runs their bingo board, of course!).

So, if you have long vacations planned, please feel free to click on each board to download them as photos and print them out for your kids.  Or, here is a PDF that has each board in one file.  Have a great trip!

Directions

• Print out the bingo boards (or create your own!)
• Stack the boards and hole punch in one corner so that the boards can be attached to each other
• Laminate the boards
• Repunch the hole in each board
• Hook the boards together with a metal ring
• Using a piece of string, ribbon or yarn to attach a dry erase marker to the metal ring (you can use hot glue or clear packing tape to make sure the ribbon stays on the marker)
• Be sure to pack some wet wipes or baby wipes to easily clean off the boards between games
• Start looking out the window!

linked up at

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Creative with Kids
House of Hepworths
momnivore's dilemma
Two Sasters
Just Us Four
Made In a Day

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Sleep Chart (free printable)

Phee has been having a really hard time sleeping over the last few months. She was sick for about six weeks earlier this year and then we were on vacation where she slept with me the entire time. Some combination of events and a family history of bad sleep made for a miserable couple months for all of us.

When it got so bad that the poor kid was a disaster during the day, we finally went to the doctor who suggested we address it behaviorally first since that's the least invasive and easiest thing to try. After a long discussion of ideas, schedules, etc, we left the office and I started to make a plan for tackling bedtime.

Phee likes to have things spelled out for her. If you give her a heads up before something happens or changes, she is able to deal with it much more calmly and easily. Taking that into account, I created a simple sleep chart and reward system.

 

The chart has a cute clip art picture of a girl sleeping in her big girl bed. There are ten boxes below that. For each night that she has a good bedtime (no fighting, time outs, getting out of bed multiple times, etc) she gets a fun sticker to put on the chart. When she fills the ten boxes, she gets to pick out a new book.

We combined the chart with a very specific bedtime routine and moving to a twin size bed. So far, it's worked like a charm!  She just picked out her first book this week. It took her two weeks to get it, instead of the ten days, but the time frame wasn't important. The positive reinforcement is great. She doesn't lose anything for having a bad bedtime, she just has the opportunity to try again the next night. 

I created a visual bedtime routine that hangs on the wall next to the sleep chart. Phee can refer to it each night to keep herself on task during bedtime. The structure is helping her achieve a better bedtime and better sleep. I know that the reward system is helping because she will excitedly tell you about it and her new book.

We're now working on a morning routine, too. Phee will be starting a new school in the fall and that will change our mornings a little bit. In an effort to make that easier for all of us, we're starting to work on the mornings now so that we can tweak where needed and be ready to go once school starts.

If you'd like to try the sleep chart, here is a PDF version. You can also give the bedtime routine and the morning routine a try. Obviously what you and your kids need in a routine is different from what we need so these printed sheets won't work for everyone. But, if you do give these a try, I hope they are a positive success for your little one, too!

(The routines are available as PDFs. I have them as Microsoft Publisher files, also, but that isn't a program that lots of people have. If you do have Publisher and would like the file, please contact me and I'd be happy to send it to you so that you can edit the schedule to suit your own needs.)

Have you found some other great ways to get your kids involved in their own routines?

Book of colors

I first came up with this idea when a friend was having her first baby. I made the little guy some books and blankets. I loved this book of colors so much, I made one for Phee before she was born. It's still one of my favorite projects.

This is a fairly easy and straightforward project. It's just time consuming because you have to cut everything out twice. That gives you plenty of bad TV watching time, though, which is fun.

I cut all the photos out of magazines for the color books. When I set out to make these books, I wanted every picture to be of a real thing- no cartoons or cutesy illustrations. I wanted true to life photos. For the most part, if you have a good selection of magazines to choose from, this won't be a problem. It may take some extra hunting to find specific colors if you end up short on images for a page or if you choose "unusual" colors (metallics, gray). Our book has two page spreads of white, black, brown, yellow, red, blue, green, pink, purple and orange.

I have a mix of parenting, gardening, lifestyle and home magazines that I use for projects. Pulling from a variety of topics gives you a larger pool of images to pull from and ensures that you don't have a color book full of just food pictures or car pictures.

Materials

• magazines
• adhesive
• scrapbook with adjustable pages
• white and black cardstock
• colored cardstock to match the colors you'll be including in the book

Directions

• Decide how many pages and what colors you want to include in your book.  
• Start cutting! Flip through the magazines and look for images that are on a solid background, stand alone images and images that are fairly easy to cut out. Look for a variety of colors so that you have a nice selection for your chosen colors.
• Use adhesive to put the cut out images on white cardstock and then cut them out again. When using white images, back them on black cardstock and cut them out.
• Arrange one color of images on the corresponding colored cardstock and glue them down when you're happy with the arrangement.
• Slide the pages into the scrapbook.
• If you want, you can create a cover for the book, too.

I chose a 4x6 or 5x7 scrapbook that had drop in pages. I used the white inserts that came with the scrapbook as my white backing cardstock for the images. I bought plain colored cardstock and cut it down to size to fit into the scrapbook.

I spaced the images out on the page. I wanted there to be a variety of sizes on each page, but I didn't want to overwhelm tiny eyes and make it hard for a child to focus on the colors.

Cutting each image out twice is a pain in the butt. However, it makes each image stand out on the page and gives the whole book a nice polished look.

I never did get around to creating a cover for Phee's color book. You could easily design and print something out on a large size label and just stick it to the front of the book. Or choose a book that has a photo insert cover.

Phee has thoroughly enjoyed this book. The variety of images gives us endless things to talk about. She loves picking out the different colors and seems to have a favorite picture on each page.

Though we haven't had this problem, one thing I love is that you can fix pages that get damaged. All you have to do is slide the page out, create a replacement and slide it in. You can also add colors if you get an expandable scrapbook (the kind with posts that you unscrew to add/remove pages).

If you're crafty and looking for a fun project to make for your kids, this is a good one. It's fun to make, customizable in a number of ways and it's something tangible to share with your children. Plus, it teaches colors! Get those scissors out and start cutting!

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