A quick Christmas card craft for your kids! Cute. Cheap. Fun.
I do love a crafty challenge, so when the gorgeous Tinkerlab said that the next challenge was on, I knew we *had* to take part. This time she set the “magazine” craft challenge. Nothing like a bit of recycling. And at this time of year, you will probably have a lot of catalogues and junk mail lying around. There is a “linky” below with links to the other blogs taking part in the challenge and getting crafty. Go check them all out!
We were in need of some Christmas cards from Red Ted to his grandparents, so this prooved the ideal opportunity to make some.
Not an original idea at all, but Red Ted enjoyed himself and I love the out come.
Materials: Old magazines, scissors, glue, card stock (ours is recycled from old work brochures)
1. Decide on a “design”. We went for Christmas Trees, Santas and Snowmen. I think both Red Ted (3.75yrs) and I liked the Christmas Trees best. And Red Ted was able to do ALL the cutting. I helped him, by “holding a rectangular stencil” over the piece he need to cut. And he managed them all himself. He also chose the colours (my suggestion of a green tree was instantly rejected). He wasn’t able to cut the circles for the Santa and snowman and insisted that I did it for him.
The cutting really is the fun bit – as you get to browse you magazine for colours and ideas. The Santa’s hat actually has buttons and a white trim from a skirt and top combo on one of the pages. Red Ted thought this was the bees knees!
2. (The next day) Red Ted did do all the sticking. To help him know where to stick things, we layed it all out in front of him.
He really wanted a photo with his cards….
3.Then we made some “baubles”, “snow” and “buttons” with the hole punch. I think this was the most fun bit! And Red Ted continued hole punching long after we had finished. Sticking on the circles was a little tricky. So we did it together.
And he was so proud, we need another photo of him with the cards:
What do you think? Simple! Cute! Fun.
Check out the linky for more magazine fun:
Readers: Want to join in the recycled linky fun.. here is your special linky 🙂
Others taking part in the challenge:
Child Central Station , kids in the studio, Teach Mama, The Imagination Tree, Childhood101, Teach Preschool, hands on as we grow, Artful Parent, Paint Cut Paste, A Mom With A Lesson Plan, Toddler Approved, Kiwi Crate, Art 4 Little Hands, Red Ted Art, The Chocolate Muffin Tree, Imagination Soup, Michelles Charm World, Messy Preschoolers, Tinker Lab, Mommy Labs, Putti Prapancha, Sun Hats & Wellieboots
Roopa says
December 5, 2011 at 5:23 amLove the cards, especially that santa is adorable:) Great idea!!
Honest Mum says
December 5, 2011 at 8:06 amLove this idea and nothing like creating an eco friendly card Christmas card.
Olga says
December 5, 2011 at 9:52 amI was meant to give more stars for rating. Not sure what happened ???!! And how do I add picture to my profile??? Sorry I am new to this ))
Olga says
December 5, 2011 at 9:53 amThese r really cute!!!
Red Ted Art says
December 5, 2011 at 9:56 amHonest Mum – Aaah we love making recycled cards
Roopa – yes, Red Ted was rather taken by Santa too
Olga – good question.. the majority of people who have a picture with their comments, are “bloggers” who have online accounts that the comment seems to pick up on… mmmmh so… not sure how you get a picture! Unless you want to just create a blogger profile? Or use a googlemail account to comment, which should let you add a picture…
And no need to apologise! Fab that you left a comment!!!
Jill @ a mom with a lesson plan says
December 5, 2011 at 1:37 pmGreat idea. These are adorable Christmas cards. (I like the trees best too.)
amy says
December 5, 2011 at 1:49 pmOh, these are great! Hole punching is so much fun… I keep meaning to get more shapes of them, perhaps I’ll put it on the Christmas list. Oh, and I think I like the snowman best, with his lopsided eyes. He’s got personality!!
Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says
December 5, 2011 at 1:59 pmThese turned out really fab! This is a great idea for Christmas Cards!
Rashmie @ MommyLabs says
December 5, 2011 at 2:21 pmWhat a brilliant way to convert those magazines into something so cute and lovely. Handmade cards are always cherished and when they are upcycled from something that cannot be used any more -all the more treasure-able!
Art For Little Hands (@art4littlehands) says
December 5, 2011 at 5:06 pmVery cute way to recycle.
michelle says
December 5, 2011 at 6:12 pmFabulous!! Love the fun shapes and designs!
Catherine says
December 5, 2011 at 8:07 pmAnother fab ‘green’ idea for Christmas! They look gorgeous, esp love those christmas trees!
Red Ted Art says
December 5, 2011 at 9:30 pmThank you! We love them too (in fact Red Ted is finding it rather hard to part with them…)
jen | paintcutpaste.com says
December 5, 2011 at 10:16 pmhow cute and festive! anyone would be lucky to receive one!
Christie-Childhood 101 says
December 6, 2011 at 9:43 amThe Santa is just so cool!
Michelle Breum says
December 6, 2011 at 6:33 pmYour son does look proud! What a great way to get in some fine motor skill practice. I bet these cards will be very much appreciated. Making cards and gifts makes giving at Christmas so fun for little ones! I shared this post on Twitter today.
Red Ted Art says
December 6, 2011 at 6:38 pmAaaah thank you! Definitely great fine motor skills practice!! Especially since he then spent the next two days cutting up more magazine paper… And thank you so much for the tweet!
Jackie says
December 6, 2011 at 6:40 pmThose are great! He must be doing really well with scissors to cut around the stencil. My son actually struggles some with scisssors BUT we found a great way to cut circles, I cut out squares and all he has to do is snip off the corners and they look pretty circular. You may already do that but it has been a lifesaving tip for me with a kid who wasn’t thrilled with scissors so I thought I’d pass it along!
Red Ted Art says
December 6, 2011 at 7:01 pmAh no! Mine only did the rectangles! No circles YET. But LOVE your suggestion of how to do it! Neat!
Rachelle | TinkerLab says
December 7, 2011 at 5:15 amYour son’s cards are absolutely wonderful, and anyone would be lucky to get one! I also love Jackie’s suggestion (it’s totally new to me) for cutting circles. I’m excited to try this one out later this week. Thanks for joining the challenge!
Cassandra says
December 8, 2011 at 11:13 amThis is cool! I love Christmas cards but it’s hard to find original ones… these are cute, extremely nice and absolutely unique! I’m going to make them with my nephew next week! Thank you very much for the suggestion…I’m sure he will be more than happy to be an artist! Do you have any other Christmas decoration ideas??!
Red Ted Art says
December 8, 2011 at 11:16 amLots more… just look here: https://www.redtedart.com/category/christmas-2/ 🙂
ScienceSparks says
December 8, 2011 at 12:16 pmThey are lovely and he is so good with the cutting…i might see if Noah can cope with this!
Cassandra says
December 9, 2011 at 11:42 amThank you…i’ve seen some other ideas and they are simply amazing! 😀
Mummy..Mummy..MUM!! says
December 14, 2011 at 10:04 pmLove those! You are just too good Maggy. Thanks for linking to Fun Sparks. x