All About Me Banner & New Paper Issues Theme!

Sam came home from school the other day with a big white piece of paper shaped like a banner. His teacher sent it home for him to create "an all about me" banner to be hung up in his classroom for the entire year. The teacher also said that it was to be completed with the help of parents and could be as simple or elaborate as we wanted. As soon as I saw that parents were to help and that it could be elaborate, of course I saw that as a green light to get creative. I had to keep in mind that Sam is only in Kindergarten and is still very much trying to learn his ABC's, let alone write each and every letter. I wanted to create with Sam but also using it as a tool to help him practice his writing and hand control with cutting and coloring.

To create the banner, we started with the white 12X18" base. Digging through my stash, I came accross some cool Cavallini file folders that repeat the alphabet over and over in rich, warm colors. I opened it up and it fit perfectly into the banner shape. All I had to do was cut the triangle at the bottom and staple it on. Next, I gave Sam some vellum and had him trace the entire alphabet once in pencil and then again in Sharpie. I punched each letter out with a 1/2" hole punch and randomly placed them directly onto the folder. I cut Sam's name out using the Cindy Loo Cricut Cartridge. The black cardstock worked perfectly to emulate a chalkboard. I gave sam a white oil pastel to color in his name. It shows up so well against the black. We then decided to go through pictures that show who Sam is, and what he loves. We chose 10 different pics to represent his love of swimming, his birthday, Halloween/candy, his brother, catching frogs, hats, his dog Murphy, going on trips/hotels/cabins, his I-touch/music, and IHOP! I printed them at 1" and foam mounted them to create some dimension. Sam loves helping me with those foam dots, I always seem to find them stuck to walls, doors and anything else he can get his hands on. :) I cut a few white squares and had Sam draw with his favorite color red a smiley face and the number 5 to represent his age. The last part was creating the ribbon to tie it all together. I printed and cut a photo of Sam on his first day of school. Then I drew a circle and had Sam cut it out in yellow stripe and red. I cut all around the edges to give it a fringed appearance. We took some MME Lost & Found II striped paper and stamped all the things that represent each photo. I had Sam help me find all the letter stamps to spell out the words. That was probably the most timely process of all. Sam picked out some ribbon, we added the "I am" and the shiny heart for the finishing touch. Sam was so proud of it, he was so excited to bring it to his teacher. For photographing purposes, I hung the banner using a vintage wooden pant hanger. I found and purchased 18 of them at an estate sale last weekend for $0.25 a piece. Score! I think I will be incorporating them into future projects. :)

Now onto the Paper Issues Theme! This week's theme is "Apple for the Teacher." There are some crazy cute projects that have already been linked up. Be sure to check out the blog hop as well. There is an amazing "FITkit" up for grabs so it is a win-win for you to stop by. Until next time! Amy