Family Memory Game Cards

 My gorgeous little nephew just turned 2 and I wanted to make something for him as part of his present. He's just starting to say a lot more, trying to get our names right and coming up to the age for learning to sit and play a simple game so I thought I could make him some memory game cards from family photos.
It came out kind of cool (if I do say so myself) so here's what I did if you want to have a go. Let me warn you know there now follows a weird mix of metric and imperial measurement - sorry, I am a UK child of the 70's, what can I say!

You need:

• A photo of each family member
• Thick 250 micron A4 laminating pouches
• Wrapping paper
• Scissors or a guillotine
• Corner punch (optional)

I used Picmonkey to get my photos ready. 

• Open Picmonkey and select Collage
• Upload two of the photos you want to use

Change the type of collage by clicking the little symbol on the right

Select "Cards" 5x7 and the one with just 2 photos

Rotate the canvas (red arrow) and pull the dividing line to the centre (green arrow)

Then you can just drag and drop your two photos, one in each rectangle. Save and then repeat for the next pair of photos.

I had 4 of each photo printed at a photo place. (I thought it would use too much printer ink at home) They ended up with a white border, not sure why but the photo is 5"x7" so each individual picture is 5"x3.5"

I cut them out with the guillotine, trimming them so they were all exactly 82mm x 122mm

I rounded the corners with my corner punch. Next I cut the wrapping paper into A4 pieces and layered them in the laminating pouches with the photos spaced out on the plain side.

Then they just rolled through the laminator.

I cut them out, allowing an even border round the photos then rounded the corner again.

Then we had a quick play, just to make sure it worked.

Wooo, it's a pair!

Now I just needed a cute box for him to keep them in. I had a sturdy little box from Ikea, the smallest of a nesting set with a twirly design on the lid. (no before photo sorry, don't know what happened there)

I painted the lid with black paint

Then added some writing with a tipex pen

There are 9 in Luke's family and 5 of us so that's 14 people, and I made 4 of each card. 56 cards is plenty. I thought only 2 of each might make the game too hard to play. If you have less people in the family you could have Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, Cousins etc. 

Don't try to use card instead of wrapping paper, if it's too thick you end up with an air gap all round the photos when they are laminated. I don't think they would last as well.

Luke's big sisters have had lots of fun playing with the cards and promise to teach him to play the memory game once he is a little bit older.

These cards can also be used for simple matching up and grouping games, something like "Find Auntie Julie?", Snap and other things I've not even thought of.

I wondered about doing Domino Cards too but that will only work for 6 people. Unless people doubled up in the photos, humm, maybe next time...

This post is part of a Blog Hop/Series with 14 other amazing Bloggers all sharing lovely Gift ideas that you can make yourself. The collection has all sorts of ideas suitable for all sorts of potential recipients so have a little browse though and see if you are inspired to make a gift or two this year. 

Just click on the links below to see tutorials on how to make these other great gift ideas.

Romantic Stamped Clay Pendant - Whistle and Ivy

Handmade Rustic Coaster - Making It To The Mountains

DIY Key Holder - Hawthorne and Main

DIY Tea Towels - Meet the B's

Family Memory Card Game - Sum of Their Stories

Texture Infinity Scarf - Persia Lou

DIY Felt Stuffie - Feathers Flights

Bow Earwarmers - The Cwafty Blog

DIY Copper Pipe Tray - Upcycled Treasures

DIY Gold Accented Trinket Trays - For My Love Of

Burberry Bag - Delineate Your Dwelling

DIY Bracelet - Kraft and Mint

DIY Miniature Wall Hangings - The Gathered Home

Leather Accented Cutting Boards - Sisters, What!

Hand Painted Recipe Box - Anderson and Grant

Bah Humbug Disclaimer: Normally I would be bemoaning that fact it is far too early for anything Christmas related but if you want to make gifts you probably do need to start thinking about it, gathering supplies, making a start - sorry!

You might also be interested in:

Patchwork Gift Box

Circle card Crazy

Personalised Wedding Picture

Wallpaper Birthday Banner

I'll be linking up this project at all these lovely link parties

Tassel Button Key Ring

This is the 3rd and last of my Button Key Rings. Made with ombre buttons and finished with a tassel. 

To make it you will need:

Synthetic Cord (same stuff that I used for the thread and chain bracelet and the pink cord bracelets)

Buttons in graduating colours

A metal ring (not photographed)

Cut two lengths of cord approx 12" or 30cm, seal the ends either with nail varnish or a flame and fold in half. I've got much braver with this stuff the more I use it and just carefully melt the ends in the flame of the gas hob now.

Arrange your buttons in the colour order you want. All your buttons must have 4 holes. In the photo there is one with just two hole but that was just a mistake.

Thread the buttons onto one of the cords, starting with the darkest through to the lightest. Then thread back in the other direction going through the opposite hole in each button. 

Line your button holes up carefully so the buttons stay lined up nicely. 

Now take the second cord and do the same again in the remaining holes.

Attach the metal ring to the loops - just watch that you don't let the buttons slide off whilst you do this.

Now you can push the buttons up about 1 cm from the metal ring. Tie a knot in the cords on the other end.

Now add a tassel. This was a bit fiddly, there might be a better way, but this is how I did it.

I took a longer length of cord, about 70" and looped it through the gap between the bottom button and the knot over and over - as shown in the photo:

I pulled it down neatly to cover the knot and then tied it with another short piece of cord.

I wrapped that short cord round a few times, knotting it again and the securing with a dot of super glue.

Then I just trimmed the ends of the short cord close to the super glue.

Then I chopped the bottom of the tassel so all the cords were level. To finish off I sealed the ends of the tassel by melting them quickly in a flame.

This bright pink makes them perfect for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Maybe you could give one to a friends with a Breast Awareness Printout from Breast Cancer Care that you can download from here.

You might also be interested in:

Giant Sparkly Button Keyring

Patchwork Gift Box

Button Cluster Key Ring

Special Date Coin Keyring

I'll be linking up this project at all these lovely link parties, pop over for a look at loads of projects from other blogs

Silent Sunday 21st September 2014

Giant Sparkly Button Keyring

This is the second of my button key rings. I made it with ThermoMorph (the stuff I used to make the little Ring Dishes) 
I have these old cookie cutters that used to belong to my Nan.

They are kind of rusty so I don't use them for food any more but they come in for craft projects now and again.
For more detailed instructions on using ThermoMorph check out the ring dishes post here, where I took a few photos of the process, what I found worked, what didn't etc.
I melted about a tablespoon of the ThermoMorph and pressed it into the 5.5cm cutter. Then I pressed the 4.5cm cutter into it centrally upside down to make a dent.

Before the ThermoMorph set I used a cocktail stick to make 4 central holes and another at the top for attaching to the keyring.

Then I let it cool and set.

Like I said, if you want to see a bit more about using the ThermoMorph check out the ring dishes post here.
Next I painted it with a couple of coats of gold spray paint. At this point I nearly abandoned this idea as it suddenly looked a bit lot more lumpy that I wanted, however not one abandon anything too quickly, I put it one side for a day or two waiting for inspiration to hit me!

I was actually making this at the same time as the little ring dishes and whilst playing with that idea I covered one of the bowls in glitter. It came out really well so out came the Mod Podge and glitter again and the giant button got the sparkly treatment too.

It needed 2 coats of glue and glitter to make it really sparkly and then another coat of Mod Podge to make sure it doesn't drop glitter where ever it goes! After each layer of glue and glitter I used a cocktail stick to keep the holes in the button clear.
I like how the glitter makes the slight lumpiness ok - does that make sense?
To finish I added a keyring through the hole at the top. 

I was thinking of trying to make this kind of keyring out of clay or a fimo type product originally. This ThermoMorph stuff is really lightweight though so the keyring is not heavy at all. It's also pretty tough, you could drop this without fear of it cracking or breaking.

If you fancy having a play with ThermoMorph you can get it from Amazon. It costs £19.95 ($19.97) for a 500g tub. 

Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com

It seems quite expensive for a tub but I've made loads of stuff with it and barely made a dent.

If you had a cute button mould I think this would work even better. The lovely people at Button and Paint made some and they came out pretty cute. Claire from Claire's Crafty Creations also used Thermomorph in moulds and her lovely results can be found here.

You might also be interested in:

Cardboard Tube Pillow Pouch

Patchwork Gift Box

Button Cluster Key Ring

Rings and Things Dishes

I'll be linking up this project at all these lovely link parties, pop over for a look at loads of projects from other blogs