Christmas Card Story Board with Tiny Prints!

A little while ago I received and email from Tiny Prints showcasing their Christmas Cards. I couldn't believe how their amazing stuff was (seriously, not just saying that) I spent literally over and hour looking through their cards. And I left inspired. We usually use cute washi tape and slap our Christmas cards on the wall and call it good, but I was kind of over that. SO I came up with the idea of a more  fun and interactive way to showcase all our friends' and families' cards.

When I think "fun" and "interactive" I think kid-friendly, meaning something my kids would get a kick out of.  

And so, that is how my "Christmas Card Story Board" was born!

Oh and fun fact: for those who claim to be "artistic impaired", you can totally rock this. 

 What is a Christmas card story board, you ask? 

Well, it's when you:

• get a big poster/chalk board/sheet of paper/any large surface you want to glue and color on
• create a "scene" on it (we did a ocean-land-mountain "scene") 
• massacre your friends' and families' christmas cards and glue them all over your now beautiful scene
• make stories out of it!

My kids ate this up, we were cracking up over their awesome ideas

Ok, now's here's my play-by-play:

First things first: grab water colors. I happen to have grown-up paints but the good old Crayola ones work great. I would recommend using a sponge/wet paper towel/large paint brush to paint your scene, you're not going for detail, just color, really.

Other ideas for scenes:

• outer space
• under water
• inside a castle
• in the forrest - a winter forest?...lots of snow=lots of white=no paint

Seriously sky's the limit here folks.

Then let it dry. It doesn't take long.

After it's dry, define your masterpiece with crayons. See how we added waves to the ocean, grass to the land, and outlined the mountain (and added a cave!)

Next up is the part where you kinda feel wicked for chopping up cards. Get over it.

Lily and I (the scissor savvy) were in charge of cutting, and Eden was in charge of gluing, and Maggie was in charge of trying to eat the glue sticks and crayons.

 THEN THE BEST PART:

Start making up stories to tell, on your poster.

We had a two-headed sea monster about to eat fish (their parents) Mermaids, people sledding on candy canes, Santa riding an airplane....

We all love it.

And it's a project that keeps on giving! Every day when new cards come, we add to it.

And there you have it folks, now go forth and start chopping up those cards!

Do you see why I say even if you claim to be "not artistic" you could handle this? Stick figures are encouraged. Heck, you don't even have to do anything, just facilitate the creativity session with the kids!

And seriously, its not too late to order Christmas cards either (...maybe shoot for New Years cards if you're too busy?)!

I'm obsessed with mine from Tiny Prints.