Kids' Valentine class

Sunday I taught a Kid's Community Education Valentine-making class. I love kid's classes--kids are so carefree when they work! They rarely feel the need to copy samples, or if they do, they don't stress about making theirs EXACTLY like the sample. And they always find such interesting ways to use whatever materials I put out for them. All I had to do Sunday was give them a few tips about using the punches and adhesive products I brought along and then stand back. For the next two hours, the girls created personalized valentines for family members and friends, giggling the whole time!

Included in the fee for the class were materials for 10 cards, 5-3X3 and 5 A2-sized cards with envelopes. (Toward the end of the class they complained that the envelope glue tasted yucky--I showed them how to use an Aquapainter so they could avoid the "yucky." That was a hit!) I had a small display board there with a few very simple samples that I literally put together in about 20 minutes. When I first started as a demo, I held a kid's scrapbooking class that I spent a week preparing for, only to have the kids practically trample my samples as they collected materials for their own ideas. I have to admit I was a little hurt--I thought my ideas were pretty cute, yet no one used any of them. I learned my lesson from that class and don't prep as much for kids as I do for my adults. Here are the quick cards I had on the board Sunday:

It wouldn't be Valentine's Day (at least in my mind!) without paper lace doilies and ribbon!



Re-purposing household items is a fun way to add variety to cards. A few cuts transform a flattened mini-muffin liner into a 3-D flower! When I saw these liners I knew the girls might find fun ways to incorporate them into their card designs and they did. They thought it was really neat when I showed them that I made the leaves for the flower with 2 of the medium-sized hearts from the "Heart to Heart" punch, by just trimming away a portion of each heart.

I gave each girl 2 of the new Real Red "Sending Love" epoxy brads and challenged them to find a way to use both of them before the end of the class. Of course, they easily met my challenge--yet none of them used their brads the way I did here.

I had two retired alphabet sets on the table with all the stamp sets I brought. I knew the girls would enjoy using them on their cards. Alphabets have always been a hit in kid classes. It started to sound like an episode of "Wheel of Fortune" as they called out the letters that they were looking for!!

I took my Big Shot and the scallop circle die with me, just in case anyone wanted to turn one of their cards into a circle. No one took me up on the offer, although one girl made a kangaroo-shaped card!! (The hinge of the card was the edge of the kangaroo's tail.) I told you they get creative!!

My 3 X 3 samples were ultra-quickies. This one was a little window card. . .

This one, using a long-retired set that I purchased before I was a demo, just has a little grosgrain ribbon detail and some red-marker coloring.

All the little hearts that come out of the Pinking Hearts Border punch were a hit, although the girls need a little more strength to operate the punch well. You can't tell from this picture but the red strip of cardstock is adhered to the inside of the card, and the top edge of the red also is punched with the border punch.

It was a great afternoon. It got me in the mood to work on my Valentines! The kid's class on the schedule is in March and is entitled, "Paper Magic." I told the girls I hope to stamp with them again then!