Creating more KidART. It’s our New Year’s Resolution.

As a result, I’ll be bringing you a project on Fiskars.com on a monthly basis, to inspire you to set aside time on a regular basis to craft with your own children (or grandchildren).

My strongest childhood memories are centered on the time spent side by side with my mother and grandmothers learning a new crafting skill. Each of them is talented in their own way and I don’t ever remember a time where they weren’t eager to share their space and materials for me to dream up and make my own crafting masterpieces. Because of them, I’ve tried to do the same with my own children, but with schedules getting busier as they’ve joined other extra-curricular activities, we haven’t been as intentional with making time to explore new materials and create.

This year, we are on a mission to stretch our creative boundaries and branch out into using new materials and learning new art concepts using the same basic Fiskars tools we’ve always had at our fingertips.

In an effort to stay flexible and not get overwhelmed, we have started by making a Resolution Tracking Journal so that all of our ideas are contained in one space. Obviously, this journal will need to be highly personalized to your own personal crafting resolution, but the concept of putting it together regardless of the resolution you choose will be the same.

First, you’ll need to cut the covers and pages for your own tracking journal. You’ll need two pieces of chipboard, two pieces of black cardstock, 14 pieces of kraft cardstock and a healthy stack of printer or copier paper, all cut to a measurement of 5 ½” x 8 ½”.  While any 12” trimmer you have will do this chore just fine, the job is made easier if you use a bypass trimmer since you’ll be able to slice through several sheets of paper at a time.

Lay one of the chipboard covers onto your cutting mat and use the measuring lines and dots to center it on the grid. Then lay a shape template even with the edge so that the middle dot is at the center-most point along the edge and mark with a marker. Then mark another dot 2” from either end.

Use a ¼” circle hand punch to punch holes directly over the marks you just created. Set aside.

Brainstorm the categories you would like to include in your tracking journal. Once you have them settled, use your alphabet stamps along with a stamp block to stamp the title along the edge of the kraft cardstock.  If you want the text aligned toward the bottom, I recommend stamping the letters of the word in reverse to ensure you don’t run out of space and end up wasting paper.

We have chosen to make our project selections based on a list of materials we’d like to explore when trying our hand at different art projects.  So our sections are labeled: supplies, glitter, ink, paint, yarn, recyclables, clay, fabric, cardboard, concrete, etc.  If you have younger children, you might chose to do a year’s worth of handprint or footprint crafts or 12 months worth of paper plate crafts.  In this case, you could label your insert pages with the name of each month instead. If you choose more than 14 sections, you’ll need to cut more kraft cardstock.  

Use the chipboard cover with the three punched holes as a template to punch the holes for all remaining pages and the other cover. This will take a short amount of time, but you will be able to punch through several sheets of the printer/copier paper at once speeding up the process slightly.

Adhere one sheet of black cardstock to the each chipboard cover. Use your Round N Round Squeeze Punch and punch several circles from an additional sheet of black cardstock.  Adhere these circles randomly over the entire cover surface allowing some of the circles to overhang the edge.  Trim overhang.  Then embellish with alphabet stickers and a strip punched using the Scalloped Sentiment Border Punch.

Lastly, stack all of your pages and bind the journal together using book binding rings found at an office supply store.  You can also use a spiral coil binding if you have a binding machine.  Most office supply stores will add coil binding for a small fee.

The most important thing to remember is that this tracking journal doesn’t have to be a masterpiece itself.  Keep the journal simple. Save all that creative energy for the fun crafting adventures you’re about to embark on in 2013.