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12.10.2011

Frugal Christmas Gifts: Lacing Cards


In an attempt to save money this Christmas (and keep the constant toy clutter off my floors), I'm trying to make a few activity-type gifts for Finley. I had big aspirations of making busy bags, craft activities and more. But so far I've made this and.... yeah, that's all. Woopsie! Time to get a move on!

One thing I've been wanting to get for Finley is lacing cards. You can buy these cute eeBoo ones or these from Melissa & Doug. But I figured that I could make some pretty easily myself. And now that I got my hands on a shiny HeatSeal H300 Laminator, there are no more excuses!


I started by printing out some images. I found this site that has some cute images. You can do a search for clipart and pretty much use whatever you want. I printed the images on cardstock which was probably a mistake. The laminator didn't seal those ones very well (a cute, little turtle met his laminating demise this way). I recommend sticking with regular printer paper (or read the manual before starting).

I also had some cut-outs that I picked up from Target when they were on clearance. These were thinner and worked much better.


If you don't have a laminator, you can take your things to an office supply store or Lakeshore Learning to do your laminating. I'm not sure of the cost at an office store, but I think it's about $0.29/sheet at Lakeshore Learning. Or if you want to make it really easy, you can make some out of foam squares and skip the laminating altogether.


After the laminating was done, I just cut out the shapes and used a hole punch around the edges. I found the laces at Joann's. But shoelaces from Target or Fred Meyer would work just as well.

I think Finley will love this lacing card gift and I will love the 10 minutes of free time I'll get while she's playing with it!

One gift down, many more to go! I'm starting to feel inspired. Hopefully I'll get a few more of these projects done before the 25th!

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