Kodak Printer Projects

We’re delighted to have two seasoned and well-respected crafty bloggers leading our printer craft challenges. Find out a little more about them, and their latest projects, below.

Maggy from RedTedArt

Maggy is a mum of two who loves to get crafty. She shares all her craft ideas to inspire others to have a go on Red Ted Art. From weekly Kids Crafts to weekly tutorials there is something for everyone!

Check out Maggy’s recent projects and posts:

• Maggy makes a baby’s room look bigger
• Maggy picks her favourite projects from the Big App Challenge
• RedTedArt and the Big App Challenge

Penny from Alexander Residence

Once a drama and media teacher, now a writer and mum, Penny blogs at the award-winning Alexander Residence about life, parenting, creativity, and sometimes even parenting creatively.

Check out Penny’s recent projects and posts:

• Penny chooses her favourite entries from the Big App Challenge
• Penny uses family photos to create high-impact wall art
• Penny: A special piece of wall art for my husband

Our #printerprojects Twitter party on 23 November was a great success, huge thanks to everyone that took part for your brilliant craft suggestions and questions for our experts, Maggy from from Red Ted Art and Penny from The Alexander Residence.

We’ve pulled out just some of our favourite tweets from the hundreds that were flying around during the lunchtime party.

Online resources

1. RedRoseMummy: #printerprojects Remember to use a site like Picnik to play around with different effects for your photos >>and it’s FREE.

2. ToybuzzUK: I find that hellokids.com has a really great range of colouring pages to print out. Keeps my two busy for hours #printerprojects.

3. bodfortea: Add your little one’s favourite sayings of the moment to wordle.net and make a timecapsule word collage #printerprojects.

4. Aresidence: There’s a lovely memory card game on the @Kodak_UK site: bit.ly/tLIeVv #printerprojects.

5. BritMums: Some historical paper dolls to colour and print out (FREE) #printerprojects tinyurl.com/d4b62hb.

Christmas crafts with kids

6. RedTedArt: we love making our own Christmas cards… and when you add some prints they look so polished! #printerprojects.

7. RedRoseMummy: #printerprojects I like the idea of doing cards with family members and their names on them.

8. ali991: #printerprojects you can bring out Christmas pictures and the kids have great fun making personalised Christmas cards with cut and paste.

9. Mummiafelice: Place names for the Xmas table is another #printerprojects idea.

10. bodfortea: Print family pictures out & cut into circles for personalised Christmas tree baubles to decorate a paper tree #printerprojects.

11. wendymcd83: #printerprojects I make printed Xmas Challenge sheets for the kids with tasks, quizzes, colouring that Santa leaves in their stockings.

12. Mummiafelice: This year I’m helping the kids make tree decs. Design on PC, print, and then they can cut out, stick and make them sparkle! #printerprojects.

13. mummyblogger: I once made my own family advent calendar by printing out favourite pictures to put behind each window #printerprojects.

14. ali991: #printerprojects We also do personalised table mats for Christmas, shows everyone where to sit when family is round.

Great gift ideas

15. second_time_mum: Buy cheap wooden photoframes and cover them with printed pics. Varnish and you have perfect family xmas gifts #printerprojects.

16. Mummiafelice: I also make personalised character cards using the PC and printer. Much cheaper than buying them in the shops #printerprojects.

17. pinkpixi87: #printerprojects Print off xmas card templates and let you children personalise them for a teacher’s present.

Amazing artwork

18. halkerstone: The kids create abstract art using ‘Paint’ then print them to wrap presents #printerprojects
jhowze: My mum’s fave picture craft – get a half shell from craft store, line with “velvet”, paste, pic in middle & hang with ribbbon #printerprojects

19. SuperAmazingMum: #printerprojects *if* I was crafty, I would make bunting out of arty photographs… but I’m not, so I’ll pass that idea to @redtedart.

Cute crafts

20. Mummiafelice: My daughter is very much into crafts. I let her design sprapbook pages on the PC and then she can print them for her book #printerprojects.

21. notanottinghill: Buy old pictures very cheap at carboots/charity shops, remove old pic and reuse with photo. Job-lot for £10 perhaps #printerprojects.

22. dorkymum: DorkyDad and I printed out pics of ourselves and stuck them onto packs of flower seeds for our wedding favours #printerprojects.

23. jhowze: We’ve printed out pics on transfer paper you can iron onto clothes. My daughter loved her face on a shirt #printerprojects.

24. RedRoseMummy: #printerprojects A friend made own jigsaws using family photos. Backed on to card then cut into pieces and into a bag.

25. Melaina25: Printed out shapes of different colours to help Blondie Boy learn his shapes! He loves ovals, stars and hearts #printerprojects.

26. RedTedArt: I love printing out “hide and seek” sheets from the internet. Great for “nature trails”. #printerprojects.

27. hollyseddon: I’m creating a collage of the kids growing up to print on a huge scale, I think it would look great in their playroom #printerprojects.

28. BookBabies: #Printerprojects we take photos of the children, #print & cut them out, then let them draw the backgrounds to their photo.

29. second_time_mum: Make a height chart that grows with your child – add new images as they grow #printerprojects.

30. hooker1uk: If you’re looking for a bespoke cake, print/cut your template and carve the cake to fit. #printerprojects.

Check out these other great Big App projects and posts:

• Maggy of Red Ted Art makes a baby’s room look bigger
• Penny chooses her favourite entries from the Big App Challenge
• Maggy picks her favourite projects from the Big App Challenge
• Penny uses family photos to create high-impact wall art

Penny from The Alexander Residence, one of our Printer Project Experts, is back with more examples of getting the best from the Big App. After creating some beautiful artwork for her children, Penny has now turned her attention to creating something special for her husband: a gorgeous photograph from their wedding.

Watch the video to find out how easy this special project was, and hopefully get inspired to have a go yourself!

Check out these other great Big App projects and posts:

• Maggy of Red Ted Art makes a baby’s room look bigger
• Penny chooses her favourite entries from the Big App Challenge
• Maggy picks her favourite projects from the Big App Challenge
• Penny uses family photos to create high-impact wall art

The Kodak Big App challenge continues, with a chance to win a Kodak printer or camera. If you haven’t got on board yet, here’s a run down on how to turn your photographs into art, and maybe even prizes. And if like me you need to see some before you get inspired, I have collated some great ideas too.

In a nutshell
Take one cool snap, give it the Big App treatment via the free Big App on the Kodak site. The App will turn it into a PDF, dividing the image into as many A4 sheets as you choose. Print the PDF, then either fix it to the wall directly, or frame your creation. Kodak ink is more affordable than many other inks so you can go as big and as colourful as you want. It’s also great quality and highly smudge resistant, so perfect for little fingers.

My projects
So far I have used the Big App to remind myself to keep practising the skills I learnt on my photography course, by turning this picture into a collage above my desk. Here I am looking pleased with it:

I blew up this photo of my daughter shell hunting on the beach in Wales for her bedroom wall.

And I captured my son in the midst of his favourite activity, pirating! A little Jack Sparrow appearing out of the bushes. He loved it, even if he has moved on to being a rock star this week.

Then my husband wanted to know where his photo was. So the next one’s for him… I have some ideas. And I will remember to lose the margins when I print to make this one seamless, and stick it up straight, and perhaps even frame it to give it an even bigger wow factor.

Challenge entries

Still looking for inspiration for your entry? You have until Tuesday 22 November. Let me share some ideas I really like from the entries so far, it was impossible narrowing it down, but here goes…

I love Kate of WitWitWoo‘s Skimming Stones, moments like this encapsulate so much about the parent child bond, about growing up and learning. They totally deserve to take over a whole wall.

Again, this shot is just pure magic, and it took Rebecca of Here Come the Girls hours of manipulation to achieve (pop over and find out how she did it). I can imagine it looking absolutely amazing blown up, and Rebecca’s talking a whole 24 A4 sheets. She would easily get this many sheets, and many more, out of £10 Kodak colour cartridge. Bargain. You can’t beat fairies for capturing small people’s hearts and minds.

Mammasaurus is going to put this in her dining room. For me it is a million times better than any plaster cast or handprint kit of your baby’s hands, and so much cheaper to achieve too. Plus the colours are just awesome and it’s going to inspire more fabulous art, whilst looking every inch a piece of modern art in itself.

Although I am rubbish at minimalism in my interior design life, I can dream. I can dream of clean white flowers, blue cloudless skies and a very different, and beautifully relaxing approach from Gadget Mum. I love the way it changes my perspective, literally and mentally.

So that’s what we did with the Kodak Big App, what would you do?

All the information on the Big App Challenge you need is here.

This is a sponsored post

Maggy from Red Ted Art, one of our Kodak Printer Projects Experts, has used the Big App from Kodak to create something special for her daughter’s bedroom. Her stunning picture of cherry blossom in spring was turned from a jpeg image to a gorgeous piece of wall art.

Watch the video to check out how easy it was, and see the finished product in situ:

What would you make with The Big App?

Some of you may have seen my post about decorating for Pip Squeak’s birthday, as well as Red Ted’s Solar System Wall Art… We got crafty with Kodak’s Big App. It is a great and easy online tool that lets you great large scale wall art on your home printer in minutes. Combine it with Kodak’s new ink cartridges and you have an affordable way of creating great wall art and decorations for your home… and the great thing is, that you can update them as often as you like!

First we created this solar system. It looks fantastic in Red Ted’s bedroom.

And then we had another go with this blossom photo for Pip Squeak’s room. She has a tiny little box room and this wall art gives it the feel of having an extra window. Brightening it up immensely. I like the idea of recreating the four seasons and regularly swapping them all around. For now, though we have spring:

Over on the BritMums Blog, there is a Big App linky challenge running. Make sure you take part for your chance to win some great Kodak prizes.

These are some of the entries so far that I really like:

Boo and Me has this ADORABLE seaside photo:

How cute is that?

I love Middle England Mum’s idea of making some of their photos into Christmas gifts. And particularly love this very colourful photo:

Shell Louise had a go with this really fun photo, it is for decorating their bedroom. Lovely!:

So, we have decorated the kid’s bedrooms, as well as creating some party decorations. We have had some ideas for Christmas, as well as for decorating your own bedroom..

What would you make with The Big App? Be sure to have a go and join the fun!

This is a sponsored post

It’s time to unlock your imagination and get your kids creativity going with our “crafting with kids” Twitter party on 23 November – just in time for making cool gifts for the holidays!

#printerprojects
DATE: Wednesday 23 November, 2011
TIME: 13:00 – 14:00

Our Printer Projects Expert Craft Bloggers, Maggy from Red Ted Art and Penny from The Alexander Residence will be on hand, sharing the crafts they’ve discovered with the Kodak Big App and otherwise helping to inspire you with tips, ideas and inspiration.

Come share your crafting projects – whether they’re created with a printer, fabrics, glitter and glue or Fairy liquid bottles – take part in the fun, and get a chance to win prizes! (more…)

The Kodak Big App Challenge is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated. If you missed it, watch for the next BritMums Kodak Challenge, coming soon!

Whether you’re super-crafty or just keen, we’ve got some brilliant new printer projects to help you create beautiful and original artwork with your kids or on your own.

We’ve teamed up with Kodak to launch the Big App Challenge and show mums and dads how to use a new online app and cheaper-than-you’d-think printer ink to create cut-out-and-keep projects, Christmas decorations, wall art and family activities.

We want you to show us what you can do: there will be prizes for the most creative crafts along the way!

What is the Big App?

Kodak has created an easy online tool to upload images and then print them out to create big wall-size pictures. And when we say big, we mean anywhere from 4 to 16 or more A4 sheets put together. To get an idea of how this can be used, see the Portfolio. Of course, it’s not just about size, it’s what you do with the prints that counts, and we have two creative geniuses to guide you through the projects.

Meet the craft bloggers

Two of our most creative craft bloggers are leading the charge, and will be bringing you their own take on printer projects over the coming weeks.

Maggy from Red Ted Art is a well-respected crafter, known for inspiring but easy and affordable craft projects to help ‘bring colour and art to children’s hearts’. Along with her children, Red Ted himself and little daughter Pip Squeak, Maggy will be putting the new ‘Big App’ through its paces and providing step-by-step ideas.

Penny from The Alexander Residence is an experienced arts practitioner whose children have inherited her creative zeal and love of sticking and messy paints. Penny will be conjuring up easy projects that even time poor mums and dads can enjoy with their little ones.

How you get involved and enter to win prizes

Take part in the Big App Challenge and you could (more…)