Need to keep your kids busy and create something useful at the same time? This craft is perfect.

You can have the kids be creative and create a heartfelt card for something cheaply and easily. I originally came up with this idea for a Mother's Day card, but my wife loved it so much that I thought I'd do it again for other occasions. This is perfect for Birthday's, Holidays, Father's Day, etc.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Construction paper, colored is best, but not necessary
A Glue stick or Tape or something adhesive to glue the two sides together.
A little artist with drawing supplies
Scissors (an Adult to cut, an Exacto Blade helps as well for more details)

As always, I'd appreciate if you vote for me in the contest above. Read on for this quick project.

NEXT...The Paper

Step 1: The Paper

I suppose you could use any sorts of paper or similar to do this, but I had some colored Construction paper that my daughter had from Target. I wanted the two colors to compliment each other in the end, so I chose Green and Yellow and glued them together with a glue stick. Once that is done, you just set up your kid to doodle away and create their masterpiece. After a few minutes, flip the paper over for them and have them draw on the other side. My daughter has a little bin setup with Markers, Crayons, and Colored Pencils, I'm sure that painted could work for this too, it might just get a bit messy...(and take longer to dry)

NEXT.... The Stencil

Step 2: The Stencil

I wanted to do my daughter's profile as the shape, so I took a picture of her on my phone and transferred it to my computer. You could use anything as a shape, maybe a Christmas Tree, Turkey, Pumpkin, Heart, etc... it could go with the seasons or holidays to make this craft useful year round.

Start by folding your two-sided drawing in half and figure out if you want your card to flip open on the side, top, or bottom. Whatever way you choose should work with your desired pattern. In this case, it made the most sense to have it hinge at the top of her head.

You could always freehand a pattern on the card, or print out the pattern at the correct size, or you could take the easy way out like me. I opened the image on my computer screen and zoomed in to the right scale and then just traced the pattern onto the paper. If you use this method, you should try to unfold it temporarily so that the light only has to shine through 1 side of paper, then you can fold it back up again and cut out the pattern.

NEXT... CUTTING AND FINISHING

Step 3: Cutting and Finishing

So the last step is to cut out the card. Use the pattern you just drew onto the card and cut it out. I used scissors to do the main shape and used an exacto blade to get more detailed areas.

As a quick tip for keeping your exacto blades safe,I have used a scrap piece of foam core board (cardboard or similar could work too) and slid the blade in between the layers. This keeps the super sharp blade a little more protected when not in use. So you don't accidentally cut your self when reaching into your craft drawer.

The main shape should be cut all the way through, but to add some more details, open up the card and only cut through the front face as shown in the pictures. I added some gaps to show more hair detail, along with more holes to show the bow. I wanted a bit more detail, so I added a cut for the ear and bent the ear outward.

The last thing to do is open up the card and write your special message to the recipient of the card. Make sure you write far enough down so that the inside writing doesn't show through any of the cutouts on the front. You're done! Give it to that special someone and watch your kid smile in delight because they made it.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable. Please Vote for me in the Contest!

Thanks for reading my Instructable with many more to come. For project updates or other things that I do, check out my website at www.StudioDarose.com or follow me on Social Media:Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter @StudioDarose