Reading and Writing Gift Set

I can't believe that the school year blew by so quickly!  I'm so excited for fun adventures with the boys new bikes, and going to the pool club, but I also want to be sure that my little guy doesn't loose all the great skills he's learned this year.

I wanted to make a special card for him to celebrate all that he's done this year, and to let him know how really special he is to me.  

In a way, he's a little bit sad that school is already finished.....  He had a great teacher and an amazing class this year.  He loves his friends, and really has a great time at school each day.  Isn't that sweet?

I stamped Ben Paper Dolls to an MFT Perfect Paper Panel and colored in just his head and neck. Then I stamped the super hero costume onto a separate piece of paper, colored it with Copic Markers and trimmed it out.  Using a quickie glue pen, I paper pieced his outfit right in place.   A fun trick I discovered is that by doing this, I pulled up on his cape to give it some added dimension. I investigated all sorts of camera angles to show you, but it didn't work.  So, let me just say that when you see the card in real life, the cape is actually billowing out behind Billy in the breeze. its pretty cool, even if I do say so myself. Giggle.  

For the inside, I added the chipboard letters "SUPER" because I think that's exactly what my little one is! 

I love that when we read stories at night that he can now read a few pages, then I read a few pages.  He's worked really hard on his handwriting to make everything nice and neat.  He loves to draw and write stories.  

I saw these fabulous composition notebooks from Mead that are specifically developed for K-2nd grade (you can find them HERE.) I just knew that I had to pick a few up.  The top of the page is empty for my little artist to draw a picture, and then there are the dotted lines for penmanship.  

I'm going to have him keep a journal every day over the summer.  I thought it would be a great activity to keep track of all the fun things we'll do, and to keep all his new skills fresh!  I also love that this ties in so nicely with the book we're reading right now  "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid"

So... that means, he needs a matching  book mark to help keep his place!  Right?  

I stamped another image from the Ben Paper Dolls set and punched it out with a nestie circle.  It fit right inside this fun Scenic Route die cut.  

I actually hand sewed a button right through the die cut and through the ribbon pull for extra security. I didn't think a pop dot would be strong enough for repeated use.  I love the flexibility of clear stamps, I placed my sentiment "You Rock!" from Essential Sentiments on the block in a curve to match with the shape of the circular diecut.    

I hope you liked my little Reading and Writing Gift Set! Thanks for stopping by today!