Pages

Thursday, March 17, 2011

So I did learn a new craft after all!

In my list of 40 things to do before I turn 40 I said I wanted to learn a new craft. I tried a knitting class, and albeit I went one time, I was REALLY not successful! However, yesterday I organized a program in our school library on card making.

When I planned this event it never dawned on me that I could use it as a 40 Before 40 item!

I had a woman from the community who is a card maker and does some beautiful work be my guest speaker. She volunteered to come in during our 90 minute lunch period and give a brief presentation about card making and then she would let the audience members each make a card.

She and I met in advance and planned that we would have 8-10 kids with about 3-4 chaperons. I got a list of supplies, which I bought and/or got donated. I provided lunch. The kids had to sign up ahead of time and write a paragraph about why they should be picked to participate.

In the end we had a group of 6 people in attendance. The presenter gave her little Power Point about card making, the history and her own interest. Then we all got to make cards.

One thing she did that was really cool was that she made several templates. She cut all the paper in advance (due to time constraints) and bagged it up into mini kits. Each person was able to choose a kit and then she went through the creative process. It was pretty awesome! Though the kids didn't have a chance to actually use the Cricut she brought, she did a small demonstration with it. (And we have an arts & crafts & hobby room here on campus and if the kids have good behavior, they're allowed to go there after school and weekends. There's a Cricut in that space so the kids got see what it could do during the program AND will have access to one, too!)

It was a fun experience. While I will never become a 'card maker' (that's Daddy-O's specialty) it was fun to do. I can see why it's awesomely fun to do as a group, too. I will occasionally make a card or two, in the future, I'm sure.

Here are some samples of the work the kids made:

We even made our own envelops!

This 'Aloha' one is the card I made!

Maggie

3 comments:

Curley said...

Those are beautiful. I could do that if someone gave me all the stuff already picked out. My problem is picking out the colors and patterns to go together.

Anonymous said...

Lisa my bestfriend makes these ... she goes to a class once a month with her co workers... they are always nice...

Bragger said...

What a cool craft! It's like the fun part about scrapbooking, without the annoying part of picking out photographs and writing captions for them! I think that was an excellent idea you had, and I'm glad you did it for the kids. They need to be exposed to as much new POSITIVE stuff as possible.