Checkers and so much more

What is this crazy lady up to know?  This tutorial is so easy, fun and versatile.  At its base, it is a simple cross weave checkerboard pattern that can be made & played by your children, grandchildren, nieces and/or nephews.  It can also be an interesting background for a scrapbook page.  Heck you could even weave some white ribbon together for a nice basket weave background for a wedding or anniversary card.

To begin we will start with the simple and much loved checkerboard.  As you can see my 4 year old had a lot of fun making this checkerboard set with me this

  

Cut 8 sections of 1-1/2" x 12" from a 12" x 12" sheet of card stock of Red & black.  We'll be using Chocolate Chip Card Stock & Real Red as this is what was on hand.

Align all the pieces of the dark colored card stock to reassemble the 12" x 12" piece of paper.  Weave the lighter colored card stock over and under the darker colored card stock.  Once the alignment is good, adhere lighter colored card stock to the darker color card stock using Sticky Stripe or SNAIL Adhesive. The picture below shows the first row of card stock weaved and adhered to the darker card stock.

 

For the next strip, weave the lighter colored card stock alternating the weave pattern of the previous strip.  Make sure that the strip is tight against the previous strip then adhere the beginning and end of the strip to the darker colored card stock.

 

 

  

Because of the weaving the last row will not be covered by the darker colored card stock.  To remedy this cut 8 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" squares and glue them over the shorter ones.  This will help keep the weave intact.  The finished board is shown below.

 

To make the checker board pieces, 32 1-3/8" circles were punched from an extra sheet of the dark and light colored card stock.  To help make the checkers more visually appealing and easier to see, they were card stock was stamped prior to the circles punched.  My son chose soccer balls.

To create the actual checkers piece, two of the same colored circles were glued together using dimensionals with the stamp side up.

Needless to say my son thinks this is the coolest checkers set in the entire world, all because he and his mom made it together. 

When he outgrows this little set or looses the pieces, who cares!  We will have fun making more pieces and I'll make a scrapbook page out of the board.

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial.  Please share your stories with me if you are brave enough to make this with a special little one in your life!

Happy Creatin'

Comments

[Anne Pavlosky]

Maria, what a cute idea. Your so creative. Thanks for always sharing.

[Susan]

A great project....but the picture sells the product! He's a hottie!!

[Diane Wade]

Marie - you are one awesome mom! Thanks for sharing such a great idea. You should scrapbook that fantastic picture of your son, and use the checkerboard weave as a border!