cousin memory

Levi loves his cousins. He talks about them all the time. He says each one of their names and asks where they are. He gets so excited when he gets to spend time with them. So, when I saw this idea for a cousin memory game I knew I had to make a game for each of Levi's cousins. And they ended up being the perfect "valentines" for our cousin Valentine party. 

 I take no credit for this idea. I followed all of Emily's directions at Jones Design Company. I made a set with nine cousins for one side of the family and six cousins for the other side of the family. Levi's set has all twelve of his cousins. I loved that Cora could be part of the cousins for this project. :)

I used Photoshop Elements to make the front of the cards with each cousins name, picture, and these papers for the background. Don't ask me how I did them. I know just enough about Elements to be dangerous. I am sure I made them in the most inefficient way possible. :) I used red mat board for the backs of all the sets except for Levi's...because I ran out. I had a hard time cutting the mat board with a knife so I ended up using my kitchen scissors which worked great but gave me blisters on my hands by the time I got done. Crafting is hard work!

I put each set of cousin memory in a little bag and tied it with bakers twine. I was going to make a cute tag too...but I ran out of time...or I was too tired...I can't remember which!

Of course Levi and several of his cousins are a little young to play cousin memory but who doesn't like a set of cards with their cousins faces on them?! Levi spent lots of time going through the cards and taking them in and out of his mailbox.

We tried matching them but he was too excited about picking them up and looking at the pictures to do that for very long. 

And then he would mix them up and laugh. I think he thought that was the best part about cousin memory. Funny boy.

For now they are just cards with his sweet cousins' faces on them...but later they will be a great game for him to play. I think I might need to make him a cousin picture book. He would love that.