Before we headed off to BlogHer, Alma wanted to come up with a different take on the business card. And because she’s so clever she created a memory game with a handful of her patterns to hand out to people. Seriously. My brain doesn’t work that way but it worships people who do. I snagged a memory game for myself {because I’m selfish like that} even though I have no trouble at all remembering Alma and her awesomeness, but hadn’t pulled it out to play with C until today.
me: Alma made these! Alma, OUR Alma!
c: {nonplussed} What is it?
me: A memory game, a homemade memory game! She created these from SCRATCH!
c: Scratch? What does it do?
Which is how after a half hour of playing memory, it occurred to me that every memory game C has ever played has had some sort of matching pattern on the backside. Alma’s are plain white. Which isn’t a problem {no really Alma, it’s not a problem} but C wasn’t sure what to do. A light bulb went off in my head: I needed to create a duplication of something colorful on the other side of the patterns. Make sense?
I was getting ready to whip out my stamps when Viktor mentioned how great it would be to put a cutout of something on the other side. Sometimes I don’t give the man enough credit. I whipped out my Cricut and cut out 32 matching piggies {1″ long} to put on the white side of Alma’s patterns. The piggies don’t mean anything, I just thought they were cute. And how.
I put a few dots of craft glue on the back of each piggy. They’re tiny tiny little things.
And then glued each piggy into the middle of the white space on the back of the cards, like so.
At this point most normal people could leave the memory card game alone, but since I’m mother to Mister Destructo I wanted to make sure they’d last past next Tuesday. I took them to my local library and laminated them, which at 5 cents per inch cost me a grand total of $1.35. Totally affordable, no?
Aren’t they just the cutest? Even if C never wants to play with them again I’m so proud of myself I could just burst.
Even if you don’t have your own personal Alma, you can still make this memory game. Just substitute scrapbook paper for the memory game patterns and come up with something to put on the other side. You could even stamp it if you want to. Just be sure to laminate if you have any little boys in the house, they’re predictable like that.
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
That's it. I'm sharing this with my sister and we're going to get together with her cricut to make our own memory games.
Clevor trevor.
well now i know what i'm making my little girl and nieces for their birthdays!
OOOH, HOW BADLY do I want a Cricut? I've been drooling over their infomercials in the wee hours of the morning for 2 whole kids now, LOL! Those are precious. And how much do you love laminating?? I could marry it.
Leadia
I'm not worthy.
and I'm partial to the piggies
so cute! laminating them is a great idea. my kids would destroy something like that too. i love alma's work and her name! my baby #3 was going to be named alma but was named ezra instead since he was a boy!
Okay, the fact that you had a Cricut and that cute paper and knew how much it cost to laminate things at the library puts you light years ahead of me.
ADORABLE!!
Erin,
Isn't it fun that Alma is a girl? I had the same reaction, but she couldn't be any other name, she's just Alma.
Mamma,
Oh please, I'm sure you have a crafting factory somewhere in your home, admit it. Aren't they cute though? So proud, so proud.
Lizzie,
Yes! The Cricut is a miracle machine. I. Love. It.
Sarah,
I read minds in my spare time. It's a talent I'm a little shy to share, but you know, a girl can't hide her light under a bushel.
V & Co,
Honestly, this is a recession-proof craft! So cute.
The Breeders Digest,
Christmas is just around the corner…… I'm in love with the machine. Little tiny piggies? I could never do that by hand!
KJ,
I didn't even make the connection! Duh….
ALC,
He actually does hold still, in small doses. We don't get through a whole game, and I don't do all 32 cards at once. That would be murder, for both of us.
Really? I was just playing our tattered Memory game with my third and thought I needed to make a set of our own (personalized with pictures of items a two year old would recognize). Then here you are, showing me how! I love it! Thank you!
32 cards? That's ridiculous? Who does this Alma think she is? Obviously she is all about shameless self promotion and doesn't even consider the strain on mothers and children that memory matching 32 cards might take!!
Not Alma,
You're right, Alma is full of shameless self promotion. Plugs herself left and right. What kid in their right mind would sit and match that many cards? None, that's who.
Ok, these are awesome, I'm going to make some tonight. My only concern was that the "matching" piggies have different stripes. I, beling the ultimate childhood cheater, would have used these stripes as a way to memorize the deck. I'm not sure how old your kids are, but in case they start winning too much….! (Still love them…)
Anonymous,
Oh dear, cheating stripes. Never even noticed. P might be a cheater since she's old enough to notice but I don't think C even knows they're striped….
Super cute! I like the piggies. Does he hold still long enough to play them?
I love how super stylish these are and my kids loved how fun it was to find these beautiful patterns!! Thanks for being so talented, Alma!
Marie,
Ridiculously. Talented.
Fun, right?
I'm sharing this with my mother in law and we're going to get together with her cricut to make our own memory games.