Monster Train Pictures!

Here are the pictures for the Monster Train Books. Some people have been asking for the stories I wrote to go with them. I will upload them here.












I was asked by a few ladies to show some of the monster stories. Here are a few of them:

Lucy is on her way to the store. She has a lot of groceries to buy. She has to pick up food for her cat, milk for her cereal and candy Grapletons, her favorite sweet treat! Lucy loves to try food she has never tasted before. It’s like an adventure each mealtime and she is the explorer! Yum! Yum!

Manny is a mechanic. He is on his way to pick up white rim tires for his car. He got a flat yesterday when he ran over a banana. You might be surprised that a banana could cause a flat but this was a magical atomic banana and it blew a hole right in the tire! Good thing the train was traveling to Derbyshire today, that’s where his tire store is!

Sheldon is a children’s writer. He has just finished a new book about a sea turtle named Tumbles. Tumbles is a treasure hunter who is looking for a Pirate’s chest of jewels on Parrot Island. Sounds like a good book huh?

Fiona is traveling with her husband Doby. They are picking up a new puppy in Craterville. They are going to name her Jelly. Fiona is so happy to have someone to play with during the day when Doby is at work. She can’t wait to take Jelly on long walks in the park. Fiona brought a big bone on the train as a surprise for Jelly.

Doby is hoping the new puppy, Jelly, will like the dog house he just finished building for her. He likes to build things in his workshop. Doby painted the house blue with a red roof and got a pillow for Jelly to sleep on. He can’t wait to teach her to sit, fetch and roll over. Oh, what fun a puppy can be!

Betsy is a Baker. She bakes yummy cookies, cakes and pies. Today she is delivering some rainbow cupcakes to a children’s kindergarten class as a fun treat. They are learning about colors and Betsy thought this would be a tasty addition to the lesson.

Andy is an astronaut who has just returned home from a trip to Mars. He met a Martian named Marty. They decided to become pen pals. He is writing his first letter while riding on the train. He is so happy to have a new friend who can teach him about what it is like on Mars.

Molly is the owner of Right Kites. She builds kites for children to fly in the park. She loves to make them in all different colors and shapes. Her newest kite design looks like a butterfly and the string has green ribbons. It’s so pretty when it is floating on the wind up in the sky.

Bob is grumpy. He is having a bad day. Nothing seems to be going right. He is hoping a relaxing train ride will help change his mood. What do you do to get happy again if you are feeling sad or mad? Maybe we can help Bob turn his frown upside down.

Ronny is a fireman. He has a Dalmatian puppy named Dotty and is training him to be the new Firehouse mascot. He has to learn how to ride on the fire truck and how to slide down the fire pole. He is practicing riding on the train first because there is no siren. Ronny thinks Dotty will make a great mascot when he gets a little bigger.

That is just a sampling of the 24 stories I wrote. The boys love the books and even have favorite monsters! It just made all the work worth it when I saw my nephew ask for his mom to read through all of the monsters as soon as he opened the present. They were so into them! It made me so very happy! Thanks for stopping by!

Monster Train Books!

So, in September I thought to myself, "I love that Monster train mini by Laura Dennison! I should make Nate & Evan (my nephews) each one for Christmas this year!" I bought the pattern off her Etsy site (http://www.etsy.com/shop/followthepapertrail) If you have not heard of this woman - Go, Do Not collect $200 - GO to her blog and check her out!!! Her blog is http://followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com/ She has a creative mind like no other! Amazing!

Anyway, I bought the All Aboard train template off her Etsy site. It gives the dimensions and instructions for making a train mini album. I figured I would get started early so I wouldn't be down to the wire for Christmas. Sure I finished yesterday (12/21/10)! But it is finished!!!

I decided I wanted this to be a gift for the boys and not for their mom so I decided to change it up a bit! A mini album with tags, journalling and pictures wouldn't be as much fun for the boys as a Children's book about monsters riding the train! I decided that each monster tag would have a story on the back with the monsters' name and why they were riding the train. I figured this would be an interactive book for the boys! They could swap out passengers and have fun learning about different occupations and activities.

It was challenging to come up with 24 stories, names, not to mention have them fit in a 2" x 3" block when printed! It was fun though! I felt like J.K. Rowling (OK not really but still! LOL!).

I first made 2 trains - I wanted them to be the same but different. I used different paper collections to accomplish this. One is made using patterned papers from the Offbeat Collection from Basic Grey. Fun bright colors! The other train uses the Orbit Collection by Crate Paper. Once the books were completed it was time to start making monsters.

Each train holds 12 monsters - yes that means I had 24 MONSTERS to make! I decided to make things a bit easier on myself and used the 12 monsters Laura designed (instructions included in pattern) and invented 12 new monsters of my own! This was a lot of fun but mega time consuming!!! Each train has a mix of Laura and Amy Monsters. They came out great!

I bound the book with my Cinch from We R Memory Keepers. I LOVE this thing! It is so easy to use and in this case I needed the function of shutting off certain holes. It worked great! I also decided to laminate the tags so no monster parts would come off when going in and out of the pockets. Plus they slide in and out much easier now.

As you can tell, I am just thrilled with how they came out! I know the boys, ages 3 and 5, will have no idea how many hours I spent making these but I hope they will get a few hours of joy from them! Thanks so much for joining me! More train pictures to come soon! Happy Holidays!

Treasure...ARG!

Calling all Pirates! Here is a project I recently completed. Hubby and I babysat my nephews this weekend. Nate is 5yrs old and Evan is 3. I was looking for things to do with them besides play cars ALL DAY! LOL! I decided to search "Things to do with kids ages 3-5" on the Internet. One of the sites said to do a treasure hunt and make a treasure map. I decided to give it a try. I took a piece of cheap white cardstock 12" x 12". Laid out my parents' house and figured out where I wanted to hide the treasure and worked backwards. I made keys out of grungeboard and flags with a pirate stamp. I had so much fun making these maps and decorating them. I even tea dyed them! I think they turned out great and since I covered them with multi-medium (mod podge would work too), they will last a while and they can keep them. They each had a look out telescope, compass and an eye patch. They looked adorable! Check out the pictures below!



The treasure hunt went great. They both love singing the pirate song (yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!). I think Arg is one of their favorite new words. I was their guide - reading the map. Hubby was the gatekeeper of the treasure. They had a ball and it provided a solid 45min of activity. Add to that the pirate themed play after that and we had a day full of adventure. They packed up the ship for a long journey, they played captain and first mate games, they locked my hubby in the dungeon and he tried to escape. Hubby was great with them. I love seeing him interact with kids. So cute!

Anyway, this was a fun activity, I got to play with my scrap supplies in a new way and above all...I am a cool Aunt (or at least my nephews think so!) Love them!

Hoppy Easter!

Here is an adorable project I made to give as treats for Easter. I had 6 to make and wanted something quick and easy. I think these came out so cute! I hope you like it!

Super Quick Project

I want to share a quick project I made for my nephews. I just wanted a cute (Cheap) project to give them for Valentine's day. I found these alphabet cards by K & Company at Michael's in the clearance section for $2.99. I finally used my Bind-it-all. I screwed up on the cover but covered it up. I am loving how nicely the book turns. Binder rings can be tricky - I love the O-wires. I know they won't work in every situation but for those thinner projects - it is awesome! Even Dave (the hubby) said it looked a lot more professional and was easier to use.

I think the book came out really cute, especially given it only took 5-10 minutes to make!

Christmas Fun Day 5

Warning: MOM & DAD Don't watch this video, don't read any further! As you are getting one of these presents, close your eyes...No peaking till Christmas!!!


Ok, everyone else, get ready for a whole bunch of cute! I had my nephew's (Nate 4yrs old, Evan 2yrs old) over this weekend and Dave and I made Snowman soup with them. I forgot to start the video until after the stamping and glittering was done but I still got a few cute moments. My hubby was so adorable with the boys! It went very well, the kids seemed to have fun. Of course the mass amounts of marshmallows didn't hurt!

The details: We used jars from Ikea $2.99 for 4 jars. 1/3 cup of hot cocoa mix, lots of mini Hershey kisses, lots of mini marshmallows and a mini candy cane. I rewrote the peom to make it a bit more special and kid appropriate. The boys used a snowman stamp from Studio G, stamped in Stazon ink. Then they used a zig 2 way glue pen and Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter.

Extra bonus: If you watch the video, you will learn how reindeer fly! Those boys are seriously too adorable for words!

Yes, Another car album!

I had told you I needed to make two of these car albums for my nephews' birthdays. Here is the second one! I wanted to use most of the same embellishments given they were car inspired and I am cheap. I did think the best way to make it looking different and I thought that was with paper. I found a great paper pack from K & Company called Road Trip that really helped make this one unique. Though the individual page layouts were similar I still think you can tell the difference. I think it turned out great and Nate really liked it.

You will see how I "designed" the front cover of the album in a new way. I think I am done with car albums for a while but I had a lot of fun with these!

Let me know which album you liked best, Evan's (first one) or Nate's (this one)!!?? I am curious.

3D Circle card Parts 2 & 3

Here I finish up the card and the decorating, as well as show the completed project. I get a little repetetive from time to time but that's just how the editing worked out! Sorry! I think it came out great and I can't wait to see my nephew's face when he sees how it opens. I know he will love to have it sitting in his room.





I had so much fun with this card. I can't get over how different and fun it is. Also now that I have made it twice I have worked out a few kinks and could probably make it much better and faster next time. I know I will use this style for many different occasions and styles. Post a comment telling me what you think or try it out yourself post pictures and link to them here! Thanks for watching!

Amy

Mater Room Sign

This is a Kid's room sign I made for my nephew. It was made using a wood sign from the dollar store. This is a great gift or project that can be made for under $5.00. You can use this for a kids room, your scrap room, a welcome sign, really there are so many projects you can make inexpensively! It came out great and He loved that it said Vroom! I hope you like it!






I have some great projects coming up! I have some really awesome cards to show you that you will love!! Stay tuned and don't forget to comment!!!

I love cars Mini Album

Here is my first mini album!! (Well, my first solo, without a kit!) I think it came out really good. I think the 2 year old I made kit for will absolutely love it! I have to thank Marion for her button hole technique. She is so clever! Anyway, I hope you like it. Please leave a comment! I have a bunch of videos to come. So stay tuned!!