Dr.Seuss Inspired Chalk/Magnetic Activity Board

As a child I loved Dr. Seuss books and my children loved them too!
So I always enjoy this time of year when we all celebrate the Dr. Seuss legacy and I can re-live some childhood and early Mom memories!

I am now a Grandmother and have the pleasure of introducing my Grand little ones to the great books of Dr. Seuss, so I was excited to participate in this Craft Lightning Edition and wanted to create something "Seussical" for the little ones!

I came up with this cute and handy little activity tray that I knew the Grandkids would love.

It was so quick and easy to make and the best part is that it was made from an old cookie sheet I had that had gotten ruined in the oven, so it is a recycle/upcycle project to boot!

Check out the collage photo below to see the "before" picture...you won't believe how yucky this pan was!

In most cases, you would be able to just hit an old pan with a piece of sandpaper to get off any baked on high spots...but in this case, the pan was so bad that hubby had to use some of his power tools to get it clean.

I used Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint and it worked beautifully!

I couldn't believe how smoothly it went on and how quickly it dried.

I sprayed two coats, front and back and it covered good.

I taped it off and added the red trim around the sides.

I hadn't originally planned on doing this, so I had to "borrow" hubby's engine enamel!

(Hubs to the rescue again...what would I do without him??!!)

I added some washi tape accents on the sides and then added the foam sticker & button magnets for the kids to play & learn with.

(TIP: You could also add alphabet beads with magnets for spelling games for kids, or old scrabble tiles!)

The Grandkids were at the house when I finished the project and they were all pretty excited about it...we gathered them for a group shot...and their "Poppy" (aka: Grandpa) was standing behind me making funny faces to get them to laugh!

Here are the steps for making the project: 

Here are the tools and supplies I used for this project:

List of Tools/Materials:

Old/Used Metal Cookie Sheet (Not shown in photo)

Sandpaper

Die Grinder Power Tool w/Sanding Disk (Not shown in photo and not necessary in most cases...my tray was extra dirty!)

Krylon Black Chalkboard Spray Paint

Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Ceramic (Red)

Craftsmart Premium Satin Acrylic Paint (color: Pacific Coast)

Creatology Paint Brush

Water/Water Jar (to thin acrylic paint)

Absorbent Pad/Towel

Blue Painters Masking Tape

Brown Paper Bag (can also use Kraft Paper or Butcher's Paper) (Not shown in photo)

Recollections Wide Washi Tape (9.1m)

E6000 Adhesive

Mini-Wooden Clothespins (WalMart)

Buttons, Red, 1/2" (10 ea.)

Dr. Seuss Themed Foam Dimensional Stickers

Magnetic Strip, Crafters Choice, 1/2" wide

Magnets, Small, Round (2 ea.), (for the mini-clothespins)

Cutco Heavy Duty Scissors

Be sure to check out all of the other great Dr. Seuss Crafts being featured this week by clicking on the graphic below:

Thank-you for stopping by my blog, hope you enjoyed your visit and felt inspired to create!

This project/post is linked to the following sites/link-up parties:

Dr. Seuss Cat-in-the-Hat Pen/Pencil Holder

As many of you know, Dr. Seuss is a pretty big deal every year around this time, as his Birthday is coming up on March 2nd as is "Read across America" Day!

In honor of this, my awesome bloggie friends Angie at The Country Chic Cottage and  Carolina at 30 Minute Crafts are hosting a Craft Lightning Series "Seuss Edition".

The goal of this series is to come up with a Dr. Seuss craft that takes 15 minutes or less to make (minus drying time).

I thought a craft that would be super easy for kids to do and would make use of things you might have around the house would be good for this project.

One thing any child young or old could use and easily make, would be a pen/pencil holder for their desk.

Since I have TONS of empty toilet paper rolls laying around (just ask my husband...he always wants to know WHY??!!), I immediately thought of using one of those...one less for hubby to fret about! Ha-Ha!

I wanted to make it look more like a hat and not just put the striped cylinder with a flush bottom on it.

Also, I knew it needed to be a little heavy and somehow be able to remain sturdy to hold the pens and pencils, so I scoured around my kitchen to find some old jar lids and finally found one the right size to make it look like a brim of a hat and to stabilize the holder.

I wrapped the paper tube with Duck brand duct tape (white, then red for the stripes).
You could measure before doing this, but to be honest, I just eyeballed it and cut the tape with scissors and/or an exacto knife.

Next, I painted the metal jar lid with a Elmer's white paint pen.(You might have to do more than one coat, depending on the color of your lid).

After the lid was dry I used a glue gun to glue the tube hat onto the lid/brim.

Easy Peasy and a recycle craft to boot!

Here are the supplies/tools used for this project:

Tools/Supplies List:

Empty Cardboard Toilet Paper Roll
Metal Lid from Glass Jar
Duck Brand White Duct Tape
Duck Brand Red Duct Tape
Elmer's Painters - Opaque Paint Marker - White
Exacto Knife
Scissors
Glue Gun

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy, kid-friendly craft and be sure to check out the other great Seuss inspired crafts by clicking on the Craft Lightning Badge below!

Thank-you for checking out my blog and this project!

Dr. Seuss Birthday Invitation and a GIVEAWAY!!

Our Grandson "A"s Birthday was coming up and when I heard that our daughter "S" was going to do a Dr. Seuss themed party, I was really excited!

I've always loved Dr. Seuss books and couldn't wait to help out with the preparations.

I had been wanting to try my hand at creating a custom invitation and just recently realized that the "My Memories" Software could assist me in this, when I made an invitation for my Granddaughter's Birthday last month.

I asked "S" if she would mind me making up some sample invitations and if she liked them, we could use them and if they were a big fat "Fail"...(LOL!), we could order some digitally from the many sellers on Etsy that have them.

She has a lot of faith in me and let me do it!

I went to work using the My Memories Software Suite and was AMAZED at how easy it was to make the invitations!

In the past, I had attempted projects like this using Photoshop and just went away frustrated and confused!

Here are the two examples I came up with:

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

To make these, I used the My Memories Software Suite, some digital papers I purchased from Great Graphics on Etsy and a Dr. Seuss inspired Digital Graphics Set I purchased from my bloggie friend Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating.

I made them 5x7 in size, so that there was room for everything and so that it could be read clearly.

The invitation that "S" chose for the final one to send out was the first one.

I went to Walgreens online and uploaded the jpg file of the invite and ordered all the copies we needed for our guests.

(You can of course do this at any other photo place also, such as Snapfish, Shutterfly etc...the reason I chose Walgreen's is because it is closest to me and we needed them quickly...they will print them in an hour in most cases!)

Just be sure to upload these to the photo site as a stand-alone photo (.jpg format).

It won't work if you go to their "create a card" section, because those are pre-set-up templates that the photo sites have and you can't put your own design in there. 

(At least that is what I found with Walgreens, Snapfish and Shutterfly...I can't speak for any others.)

You can view several different tutorials on the My Memories YouTube Site that can help you make an invitation.

I am thinking about making a tutorial myself on exactly how I made these invites, but I've never attempted a tutorial yet and I'm a bit hesitant to try and compete with all the great ones that are out there! 

If I do decide to make one, I will update this post with a link to it.

Now, for some exciting news...My Memories has graciously agreed to give a FREE copy of this awesome software to one of my loyal followers!

If you would like to be eligible to win a copy of this Digital Scrapbooking Software Program, then here are the requirements:

1. Be or become a follower on my blog.

2. Go visit the My Memories site at: http://www.mymemories.com/ and make note of your favorite template or kit, then come back here and leave a comment stating which is your favorite from the site. (Be sure to include an e-mail address or a way to get in touch with you in case you win!)

3. For a second chance entry, please "Like" their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

4. For a third chance at winning, please follow the My Memories Blog at: http://www.mymemoriesblog.com/

5. For a fourth chance at winning, please follow My Memories on twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/MyMemoriesSuite

(NOTE: After doing steps 3,4 and 5, make sure to leave a comment for each, saying that you completed the step...this is to make sure you get your extra entries!)

Remember to be eligible to win, you MUST do at least steps 1 and 2, all other steps are for extra entries!

This giveaway opportunity will be open through Tuesday May 8, 2012 and I will choose a winner via Random.org on Wednesday May 9, 2012.

Even if you aren't the lucky winner...you can still get a great discount on the software as My Memories has authorized me to offer $10.00 off the software by clicking on the blinkie below and entering the special code.

CODE: STMMMS91285

This awesome software was recently featured on the Lifetime Television show "The Balancing Act", if you'd like to see the clip of the show where they featured the software, you can view it here.

They are also running a *Free* Photo Book Promotion right now and you can get the details of that by clicking here.

Good Luck to All and Thank-you for reading my post!

I have linked this post/project to the following sites/Link-up Party's: