From 2012:

So Sunday evening, after a marathon session of watching Series 2 of Doctor Who with the Boy (who between that and Harry Potter is becoming quite the Anglophile), we had the sudden realization that Tuesday was Valentines Day… oops!  I guess we need a bunch of cards for the classmates!

Yesterday after school we sat down to come up with Vday cards, and the Boy (first grade) has been obsessed with the idea of Valentine’s Monsters.  Well, he’s a boy, so monsters just come with the territory.  He had a blast designing his own cards, and with a little help from mom & Photoshop, here are the results!

How to make your own easy and personal homemade monster cards:

1. Have the kid design his own monster on a full sheet of paper.  We used pencil for the lines and colored with light colored markers. Have the monster hold his hand out, so that you can add your own real-life lollipop. (The Boy insisted on 3 different designs)
2. Write a pithy saying.   The boy decided on “Have a Yummy Valentine’s Day” for one, and “I’m watching you, Valentine” for the one with all the eyes.  OK, a little stalker-y, but he’s 6.  This isn’t supposed to be Hallmark!  He wrote out the saying, and signed the cards.
3. Scan the drawing and the words.  If you have photoshop or something similar, you can make the scanned drawing look a little cleaner by adjusting the Levels.  (Slide the left most slider slightly to the right, and the rightmost slider to the left, to remove shadows from the scan and darken the lines.)
4. Use a photo editing program to shrink down both pieces so you can fit approximately 8 cards on a page.  We used the same words with 2 of the monsters, to save time, since his writing isn’t exactly speedy.
5. Print on cardstock, and cut apart.
6. Use an exacto knife to cut two slits near the hand, and slide the lollipop through.

Go check it out! Her hand drawn tutorial is adorable too…

Downloads:

Single Card – Tentacles are for Hugging

Set of 9 mini-cards – Tentacles are for Hugging

2 cards – Tentacles version, Happy Valentine’s Day version

Download either the larger single card, or a set of 9 mini cards for school giving.

Quick Homemade Envelopes

If you want envelopes for your cards, the process is simple. (See the photos below for visual instructions!)  I like to use pretty coordinating paper for the envelopes. Scrapbooking paper works well for this — a 12×12 sheet of scrapbooking paper will make 4 envelopes for the the mini-cards (cut into 4 6×6″ squares.)

1. Cut out your envelop square.
2. Place your card in the center of the square, diagonally, and mark around it lightly with a pencil to estimate your folds.
3. Fold all the corners in so they meet and overlap in the middle.  (Make the folds slightly larger than your card.)
4. Place the card in the  middle.  Fold two opposing corners in, then the other two.  Secure with a coordinating sticker.

Click on a photo below to view larger, or as a slideshow.

Download :

—Code Monkey Likes You version: Code Monkey Likes You Card

—Happy Valentines Day version: Computer Monkey Valentines Day Card

*Code Monkey song reference link

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The week between Christmas and New Years is a good time to get kids to write thank you notes for the gifts they received, but for young kids, it can be a real pain to get them to write something. These downloadable templates are good solution for that. Just print out the template and have your child either fill in the blanks himself or herself, or if they can’t write yet, you can fill it in for them! And on the black and white version, they can add personality by coloring it themselves!

(Yes, more uses for the little spot illustrations used in the Christmas Gift Tags, and the Little Game Box!)

I’ve included 3 versions, which you can download for free at the links at the bottom of the page.

• a color printable that prints 2 to thank you notes to a page, with a cute snowman graphic.
• a black and white printable that prints 1 to a page, but includes a bigger snowman with present graphic for the kids to color themselves!
• a color printable that prints two postcard sized (4″x6″) postcard thank you notes, which would be great printed on cardstock, and can even be mailed as is, just use the back to address and stamp.

Plus, you can just download the snowman with gift graphic for use in your own thank you notes!

Download the files:

• Color Your Own Snowman – Black and White Version (1 per page)
• Color Version – Prints 2 per page
• 4″x6″ Postcard – Color Version – 2 per page
• Download just the Snowman Graphic to use in your own thank you note

Want something even simpler? new for 2011: Super simple Kindergartner (early writer) version

Hope you find these useful!