Kids Scrapping

Kids like pockets, too!

So don't you just L.O.V.E. when you, a smart n' savvy adult, get shown up by a smart n' savvy six year old??? I do... because it proves to me that anyone can do this craft, regardless of age or skill level. Case and point: remember that somewhat complicated post about vellum pockets (see it here), which had all kinds of instructions on folding, adhesives, etc? Well, Miss Hannah created a page with her very own pocket and folks, I think it's pretty darn good.

Here are some things you can teach your kids on what makes this page so Hannah-mazing:

1. Kids love to look back on their short lives and remember when they were even smaller. And now they can scrap about it. Hannah loved these pictures of her as a baby in her swing, "Ah, the good ol' days!" she exclaimed.

2. You gotta love the placement of the pictures, with the pocket serving as an additional page element, to create a somewhat asymmetrical grid. ***Teach kids about the power of numbers: three page elements (i.e. photos, pockets, large embellishments, etc.) can be used to create a triangle layout; four page elements can be used to create a square or rectangle layout, and so on.

3. It's all about coordination. Hannah picked up on the greens, tans, and browns in the furniture and chose a funky striped paper to match. And *hooray* the embellishments are green and tan, as well. :~)  Talk to the little scrappers about what colors they like in the photos.  Have a few different patterns of paper for them to choose from with a variety of colors and let their imaginations run wiiiiiild!

4. Now, let's focus on that pocket. Hannah used a glue stick on the two sides and the bottom of the pocket, leaving the top glueless (hmmm, new word perhaps?). Then she picked out a doodle that she drew and it fit in the pocket very nicely (after a bit of trimming). This is a very cool way to showcase some of their very favorite works of art.

5. As for the handwritten title, this is a *great* way for kids to show off their penmanship.

Kids scrapbooking tip: The confidence and joy Hannah gets out of scrapbooking are enough to hang the moon... you may even find they are asking to scrapbook, rather than watch Tinkerbell or Ice Age.  Fabulous.

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BFF!

Hannah's very BFF is Ella, who lives across the street.  Miss Hannah loves this picture of the two of them together.  For Hannah's 6th birthday, she got all kinds of scrapbooking treasures from Me & My Big Ideas.  She found a sticker that had two little girls, one blonde and one brunette... and it totally reminded her of Ella.  "Well, Miss Hannah," I said, "You'd better make a scrapbooking page then!"  Hannah scurried off into her playroom and got to work.  Here's the BFF page:

 And here are some beginner scrapbooking tips, directly from the little lady herself:

1. The most important aspect of this page (aside from the photo) is the sticker... Hannah told me that she wanted to put them on separate corners of the page so they would both stand out!  Fabulous!

2. She also cleverly picked a blue background with white flowers and then chose puffy flower stickers as embellishments. 

3. I just love that Hannah also chose a blue and white "COOL" sticker... it accents quite well in my opinion!

4. She used rub-on letters and a black fabric letter to create the funky BFF title.

Kids scrapping tip:  Kids LOVE stickers!  Let them have fun and whimsically place them around the page.  If you'll notice, Hannah seleced a variety of different flowers in many colors... creating a fun, youthful page!



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My Kitty

Here is a page that Hannah created using her favorite photo with her cat, Cleveland.  Hannah told me that she kept a few key points in mind when creating this page.  These are great tips for kids who want to create scrapbook pages!

1. When picking the colors for this page, she wanted to match Cleveland's eyes.  She selected a green background page with white polka-dots that matched the exact eye color.  Then, for the photo matte, she selected a darker green to complement. 

2. For embellishments Hannah wanted to use hearts to express how much she loves her cat.  She cut out a brown heart using fancy scissors (for a cool border), and also drew coordinating black hearts. 

3. To complete the page, Hannah used two key words for journaling: "cat" and "love", and repeated them a few times on the page for fabulous flow.

Kids scrapping tip: selecting key words for journaling helps kids practice their spelling and lettering!



Miss Hannah!

This page is dedicated to a very special little girl, Miss Hannah Banana.  Hannah might be just as addicted (or even more-so) as I am to scrapbooking.  The most amazing (and humbling!) thing about watching kids scrapbook is that they attack each page with wreckless abandon.  The result?  Intuition regarding layout, colors, and coordination takes over to create a totally authentic page.  I spend so much of my time planning and agonizing about getting each page element in the perfect position.  But what I'm learning from Miss Hannah is that planning only takes you so far - and the most fabulous creations come from within! 


Stay tuned for AWESOME creations from Hannah...