Summer Fun Passports

I cannot believe it has been over a year since I have posted!

I've finally ironed out scheduling it seems, only to still be working on the changes to the Realm. We'll get there one day, I promise.

Until then, I wanted to share with you these super fun Summer Passports I made my kiddo's for the summer.

If you've been following me over on instagram, then you have seen most of these before. This is part 1 so I don't overwhelm you with photos on the first posting back.

You'll see this image repeated a little farther down, but I wanted to show the cover and since it has already been sent to my kiddo's in Florida; I can't really take another picture of it. I used a passport stamp from Stamp Out Online (which has fantastic custom made stamps by the way) and a pigment ink by Tsukineko (Dew Drop) in Pearlescent Olive. The color looked gold to me against the blue, so I added gold embossing powder before the ink dried and then heated to emboss. Give it a more "official" feel.

This is page one of the girls passport. I suppose I should give a little background information on why I created this for my kiddos. I was supposed to go with my college to Italy for the summer, so we made arrangements for my husbands parents to watch the kids this summer in Florida. I wanted them to still feel close to me though seas apart, so decided to create these fun passports after seeing a similar post on Pinterest here. Long story short, my summer plans for Italy fell through, but we still wanted the kids to enjoy the summer with the Grandparents, and in a couple of weeks, we'll be joining them as well.

Also, the adventurer oath I borrowed and adapted to fit our family from here. The Tickle Wolf is a whole 'nother story hailing from our time in Germany. (But That's a post for a different day.)

Please excuse the over saturation and/or the under saturation of the images. I thought scanning these in would be better than photographs, but I have a fairly horrible scanner, so it didn't go quite as planned. I'll make sure I photograph all other images after part 2. 

 

In short, these are fairly self explanatory. The squares or blank spaces at the bottom are where the kiddo's can stamp and write the date for when they have completed the activity.  I did order a custom monogram stamper with the Letter C on it as a surprise for them. It says Chism Travels on it, and has Been There, Done That in a circular format. (Again, hindsight being 20/20) I didn't think to snap a photo of it before I shipped it off with them.

 

So I hope you have enjoyed part 1. All of the images are my own design, and I colored them with watercolor pencils in a Moleskin 3.5 X 5.5 blank page journal. I'm considering offering something like this in my Etsy shop for next summer, so if you like these, please let me know. They will all be custom and hand drawn if I offer them. Please feel free to leave me feedback and comments.

Changes...

It has been so long since I have posted my Nevermoorian's. I apologize a billion times over for the lack in posting. I became quite busy my last semester of college, and then I moved from the dusty desert of AZ to the green and rainy beach of WA. What a change! Needless to say there has been a bit of an adjustment going on not only climate wise, but also in regards to the Realm.

Now I had told you before that we have deemed ourselves travelers through the Realm of Nevermoore, as well as other lands including Earth. We have been traveling quite a bit as of late as you can imagine. Speaking of imaginings, there are an abundance of creative happenings that are going on at RONM. If you want to stay on top of the happenings in the Realm take a moment to follow us over at Twitter or Facebook.
 

When you Wish Upon A Star

It has been months since my last update. I apologize sincerely. Holidays and living in a separate state than my husband is anything short of distracting. I promise I will try to do much better this year.

So what do I have for you lovelies today?

Wishing Stars!

For the new year, my girls and I decided to make Wishing Stars. Now these are the same as the origami Lucky Stars, but I thought why not make a wish, write it on the inside and make it a Wishing Star? At the end of the year we are planning on opening the stars back up and see if our wishes came true.

 We made ours with left over holiday Christmas wrapping paper, and yes, before you even ask, this stuff get's glitter everywhere. But we're a glitter, sparkle, fantastical kind of family, so no harm. ;D

Now I cut my wrapping paper into strips about 2 inches x 40 inches. This way I had larger stars. The paper itself is rather thin, so you may want to back it with another layer of paper, perhaps kraft paper or something slightly thinner just to give your star some stability. (Trust me, your stars will puff better if you have a slightly stiffer paper.) You could always add about 20 inches to the length as well and it will achieve the same purpose.

So supplies needed:

• scissors
• wrapping paper, or kraft paper, or even star paper (if you want small stars) these can be found all over, but I like to order some of my pretty star papers from here plus they have glow-in-the-dark. (I love Etsy don't you?)
• Ruler. - I used a quilting ruler due to length, and the fact that I had it handy, but this is not a necessity.

Steps: (after paper preparation...cutting strips)

Now I'm not going to try and re-invent the wheel to much here. A fabulously easy tutorial for these stars can be found here. I am enclosing a few photos though of my own, to give a quick tutorial if you don't feel like clicking through to a different site.

1. Write your wish on the back of your paper strip.
   
2. Tie paper in a knot. WHAT? I know, this part can be a little tricky. Don't pull to tight, just get it to where the edges line up, and then smoosh (technical term). Flatten out the paper and you should have a pentagon shape. Try to keep the knot off to one side, and just fold the extra in the back over, you'll wrap it up later.
   
3. Now begin wrapping over...
   
   4. and over...
   
   until you are left with about this much of a tail.
   
   
   

5. Tuck the tail under the V shaped opening like this. Continue to slide the paper into the star until snug.

 6. Last but not least press the sides of the star in towards itself gently. Your star should begin to puff up and you will be left with a puffy star.

Simple right? (Don't worry if you don't get it correct at first, it took me a little bit of practice before I figured it out on the small paper let alone jumbo sized).

Good luck with your stars. <3