Pre-K crafting

Friday I get to do my pre-school craft class in our co-op. I'm thinking I want to do the little board book-altered book craft, but I'm not sure how I will manage it.

I have a few ideas...

the one I like best I can't do this month. I could take the pictures, though. I want to print a bunch of one-inch headshots of each kid, then cut out a bunch of little cartoon and clipart people , let them decorate the books and collage in the pictures with their heads attached, and let them narrate to us what they're "doing" in each picture. I think it has potential for being a craft item they're so hugely proud of, a story they wrote with pictures of themselves in the picture. Then, even at 4 they could have a story book they could read to people.

We'll see, I think I'll do it. I'll have to let their moms know why I'm taking their pictures.
OOH- I could photoshop their heads onto clipart and then cut it out for them and then we're more likely to finish the project in the 40 minute time frame. Oh yeah- I can't wait for this, it will be so much fun. I can get bigger board books, too now. That will buy me time.

So they'll all be spray-painted to begin with and we'll give them the cutouts of themselves, plus a few other stickers and things. we'll have them narrate their stories onto peel and stick labels- woohoo.

Now what will we do Friday?

Digital Scrapbooking

I just learned a new hobby- it is so much fun. Here's a lot of information that you don't need to get started, but come back here and take a peek atEveryday Digital Scrapbooking when you're ready to learn more. For now, here's my top ten reasons why digital scrapbooking rocks.


10- you can magically resize things just by clicking on the corners and dragging them into place
9- you can't mess up and waste supplies
8-you can use the same ribbon over and over again
7-if something doesn't look right you can tweak its position and never worry that your glue has dried
6-the supplies are cheaper if you choose to buy them, there's so much for free
5-if you're good with graphic design, you can make your own
4- the elements can be used in web design and other graphic design applications(like my new blog template you haven't seen yet because I haven't made it yet)
3-you don't have to worry about children gluing them to the dishwasher, their forehead, the toilet, their dolls, the car, the cheerios or the dog.
2-you can do it one-handed
1- there's nothing to store in rubbermaid, obsessively lay out on the table, and frantically clean up when I'm done.


I would list my favorite free digital downloads here, but I'll just let you explore on your own. Here's a great tutorial I found at Free Digital Scrapbooking. She mentions you need a graphic design program that can deal with layers, then she names a bunch that are costly (like Adobe and Corel) I am here to tell you that GIMP program I recommended in the Ani-Mason post deals with layers just fine, and takes up a lot less space on your hard drive than the programs she recommends, and it's free. And they have never paid me anything for this, this is an honest testimonial. If it ever gives me trouble I will let you know. Oh- here's one, there's so many options of things to do that it's overwhelming.

And- here's what I made first