Kids' Canvas with Floral District DSP

Last Friday, I hosted a birthday party for my daughter (who turned 7) and ten of her 'best' friends. She actually had many more 'best' friends, but we were able to cap it at 10. Thank goodness. Because as fun as it is crafting with eleven 6-9 year olds, it is crazy and exhausting! Luckily I had a good friend helping me. Funny thing is, she's not super crafty, but she was the one doing all the stamping and punching with the girls :D I think she's good for the rest of the year now with respect to craftiness ;)

So what did we make? Well, my daughter wanted to make a card - so we made a Valentine's card for the girls' parents with the Dress Up stamp set as well as various Happy Valentine's Day greetings. But the bigger project was an 8x10 canvas. I wanted to keep the project simple. The girls were old enough to punch and stamp, but I also wanted to leave some room for their creativity.

Each girl got their initial in  Silver Glimmer Paper so that they could personalize their canvas. I focused the project around the Floral District DSP because it's so pretty and girly. I thought the girls would love it and I was right :) Here are a few Tips & Tricks I've learned along the way on stamping with kids:

*Keep it simple! Leave a lot of room for personalization. Every single girl had a completely different canvas when she was finished. Only two loosely followed my example. The other nine did their own thing. It's one of the things I love so much about stamping with kids - the uninhibited creativity.

*Have a lot of extra DSP and card stock on hand. I let the girls go crazy with the Full Heart and Blossom Punches, and crazy they went. They used nearly five full sheets of DSP! I kept cutting more to keep them happy. They were punching and gluing flowers and hearts everywhere!
*Do the ribbon tying for them. It will avoid wasted ribbon as well as frustration. Many adult stampers have a hard time with ribbon and bows, the kids will too (for the record, I adhered their ribbon and tied the bow where they wanted it).
*Offer them some personalization. The girls were THRILLED to have their initial for the canvas.
*You can never go wrong with bling. Silver Glimmer Paper and Basic Jewels were definitely popular!
*Use wood mount stamps. They won't fall of the block and are less likely to get lost.

To show you I'm not a one trick pony, I made the cake below for my daughter's birthday as well. She wanted a Barbie cake. She didn't tell me how she wanted it decorated but I think I know her pretty well because she said it was exactly what she'd imagined :)

I hope these little tips are helpful if you're ever stamping with kids! The girls had a blast and you know what? So did I! :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!