Notecards Made From Natural Found Objects

Ok, back in the saddle again. The summer’s winding down, most of our crazy busy days are over, and its time to start back up with this blog – I’ve been having terrible writer’s block, but I think the way over it is just to jump in and post something, so here goes!

We’ve done a few really fun crafts this summer, using new ideas courtesy of friends and school, and this one (the notecards above) was great fun and simple too. You start by going outside and collecting anything that looks interesting (the flatter it is the better – think leaves, flower petals, pine needles). The kids love this part – its like a treasure hunt for them. Give each kid a bag for collecting and see what they bring back. 

Next, prepare the notecards by folding a sheet of paper in half (heavier weight construction paper or card stock) and affixing rows of double sided tape to the front. You’ll get a different effect depending on whether your rows of tape are touching each other or have some separation.

Now comes the fun part – stick your found materials onto the tape in whatever pattern or arrangement you’d like. Once you’ve done that put a piece of parchment or waxed paper over the card and roll over it several times with a rolling pin to press the materials into the tape firmly.

Finally, to finish the cards take them to your nearby beach (or sandbox) and cover them with sand. The sand will stick to the exposed pieces of tape and not to the natural materials or the card, and you’ll be left with a lovely sandy background. If you’d like the cards to be more durable, spray them with an acrylic topcoat to seal everything down, and if you’d like them to be really durable, skip the tape and use a more powerful adhesive. However, if you do that make sure your sand is nearby so that it doesn’t dry before you get the sand stuck on. With our crew of 4 little ones, the tape worked easily and we were able to troop down to the beach to put the sand on with no problems.