Kid at Heart goes Hybrid

Have you been following this month's Project Parade over on the Verve Blog? (scroll down to the bottom of this post for details on how you can participate for a chance to win $25 in Verve bucks!!!). When Jen del Muro issued the Kid at Heart Challenge I knew I wanted to create an age-appropriate Valentine's keepsake for my 2-yr-old son, Dean. I can up with the idea for this custom "learn-your-numbers-and-colors" board book.
The idea started with the Hundred Hearts stamp set by Verve, which I used for the front cover of the book and for the counting hearts on each set of inside pages. I designed the pages digitally in Photoshop, printed them out and used Mod Podge to adhere them to the chipboard book. The inside page sets alternate between a stripe and graphic pattern to give the finished book a little more interest. I added an altered chipboard heart, felt flower & brad and some rick-rac to the front cover to dress it up a bit and it all pretty like.Each left-hand page was designed with an area of "white space" for stamping the small heart from the Hundred Hearts set. The right-hand pages were designed to indicate both the number and color of hearts. I used Dani Mogstad's All You Need is Love for the digi papers, Libby Weifenbach's Chippy Alpha for the digital chipboard numbers, and Darcy Baldwin's Black White and Red All Overlay alpha for the names of the colors. I recolored the alpha for the color names to match the paper used to paper-piece the hearts on the facing page. I also added some faux digi stitching from Traci Reed's Bad Sewing Machine the Basics kit around each mat. Once the pages were printed and adhered to the book, I stamped the small heart from the Hundred Hearts set the designated number of times directly in the white space on the printed left-hand pages of the book and again on the coordinating printed colored paper. I then used my hobby knife and 2-way glue pen to paper-piece each little heart for counting.The finished book turned out so cute and Dean LOVES it!!! In fact, if you'd like proof of that, here's a quick 2-minute video of my adorable little man "reading" his "Tine Book" - I love it when my projects are useful and really enjoyed like this!! (if you're reading this post in the feedblitz newsletter or reader, you'll probably have to actually go to the actual blog post to see the video).

Want to play along and be "A Kid At Heart?" To play, just link your project to THIS POST and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve Stamps. Please be sure that your entries are linked there no later than 8PM (Mountain) on February 5th. The winner will be announced here on February 6th. Have fun and good luck!