Trend: Inchies

image by Ellen Hudson and Cindy Lyles

Have you heard of Inchies?? Well inchies are simply tiny pieces of art that measure only one inch square. The possibilities are endless, you can stamp them, collage them, whatever you like as long as they are only one inch. You can use them alone or in groups, maybe add a magnet on the back, add them to card fronts, gift tags, scrapbook pages etc. Save your cardstock and pattern paper scraps, they make perfect bases for inchies. It can be a really fun challenge to your creativity to see how much you can fit on one little square.

Ellen Hudson has a wonderful blog dedicated to inchies called Inchie Inklings, she’s shares lots of great ideas how to make and use inchies.

Join Shari Carroll from Hero Arts on Youtube for a great video on how to make a panel card with inchies.

Lisa Lee also has a terrific blog all about inchies called All in an Inch, I love the plant stakes she made!

image by All in an Inch

Below is an inchie pendant I made. I stamped the bee onto a one inch square of glass using Staz-On ink then I sandwiched a one inch square of yellow cardstock between the stamped glass and another one inch square of glass and soldered around them, adding a jump ring. Visit my blog for more info about my pendants and soldering.

image by Heather Holbrook

-Heather

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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