Hello fellow pad dwellers! Today we are excited to share with you a new feature on the TLP blog. Welcome to the very first Hybrid Variety Show!!

We will show you a variety of projects created with the same product in hopes that you will be inspired by the many ways that one product can be used. Today’s featured hybrid project is a milk carton from Kaye Winiecki.

First up is Jewelle. She created this super cute educational activity using the hybrid  milk carton from Kaye Winiecki,  Sketchbook Pages from Kate Hadfield, as well as the Oogly Boogly Collab from Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki.

Here is what Jewelle had to say about her design process:

My three year old daughter has begun to recognize the letters of the alphabet. She is excited about the concept and wants to practice telling her letters apart. I devised a learning activity for her called “Feed the Monster.” The idea was that I would give her a letter and she would find all the matching letters in a pile of letters provided for her. Every time she found the correct letter she would feed it to the monster. Once the idea for the activity was in place I went looking in the LilyPad shop for a hybrid container that would work with my idea. I found Kaye’s milk carton and I was all set! To fit the needs of the activity I adjusted the milk carton a bit. Instead of it having an enclosed bottom I folded the bottom flaps into the milk carton. This way once my daughter “fed the monster” the letters, she could just lift the milk carton up and the letters would fall out! A monster from Kate’s Oogly Boogly set was adhered to the front of the milk carton to complete the game. The last thing I did was create the letter discs to feed the monster. The discs I made in Photoshop where then cut out and adhered to wood nickles for durability. This game can be used in other ways as well, and for older children too! While I was making this activity I also created word strips for my five year old daughter to use the wood nickles with. After “spelling” a word she then gets to “Feed the Monster” the letters. She loves practicing her spelling words this way! My eight year old daughter has seen the fun her sisters are having and is now asking if she can practice her spelling words this way! So many uses out of one little learning project!

Next, Sarah created a fun puppet play scape of the 3 Little Pigs using the milk carton from Kaye Winiecki and Little Pig, Little Pig from Jacque Larsen.

Here is what Sarah had to say about her design process:

My first thought when I saw the milk carton template was to create a bank of some sort, so I started looking at products in the shop that I could use and came across across this adorable set by Jacque on a search for pigs (because I thought a piggy bank would be cute). Once I saw that the houses in the kit were pretty much perfect sizes for the milk cartons, I got the idea to create a puppet play set. I love how simple it is to make finger puppets out of the animals by just creating a loop of paper and adhering it to the back. I also added bits of the different building materials on the top of the milk carton so that the puppeteer could easily tell which house is which. I used removable adhesive on the fences, sun and wheelbarrow so the set can be disassembled and put away easily. I’m so excited to share this play set with my nieces. They are just the right age for the story, and I can’t wait to hear their version.

Danielle created this precious vacation keepsake container using the milk carton from Kaye Winiecki; Project Mouse At Sea Word Bits by Sahlin Studio and Britt-Ish Designs, as well as Maritime Papers and Elements from One Little Bird,  Designs.

Here is what Danielle had to say about her design process:

When I saw the milk carton template I was inspired by our recent beach trip. We love to collect shells, and I thought this would be a cute vacation keepsake to sit on a bookshelf or desk. Mine is on my desk at work. To create the box, I used Photoshop to lay out all the papers on the milk carton template as well as the tag and buoy elements. I used the empty space to add a few other elements I knew I would cut out and use and printed that side. For the other side, I filled the entire page with the blue pattern and the wave stamp, then printed. I printed the cut lines on a plain sheet of paper and stapled it to the unprinted edge of the printed card stock, then used my folder/creaser and a ruler to trace each line. Recycled packaging worked for my window plastic, glued all the way around the edges. The rest of the elements I wanted to use were laid out on a 4×6 piece of photo paper and printed and added to finish it off with a few shells and a beach photo tucked inside! 

Finally, I created a table decoration in a super hero theme that will be used for my son’s 9th birthday party.  I used the milk carton from Kaye Winiecki and the perfect kit for a super hero theme – Super Duper by Kate Hadfield.

A little bit about my design process:

My son is very eager to have a super hero party, so I have been busy pinning inspiration from all over the internet to a Super Hero Birthday Pinterest Board. After many hours on Pinterest, I decided to create a centerpiece myself using the milk carton from Kaye Winiecki. In Photoshop I modified the carton template to create different buildings for my super hero cityscape centerpiece, then print and cut them with the Silhouette. For the elements, I filled a letter sized page with doodles from the Super Duper set, then print and cut them with the Silhouette. During assembly I tucked the flaps to the inside on some of the cartons so there would be a place to attach the skewers.  

That wraps up our first edition of the Hybrid Variety Show. Stay tuned for another episode coming to The Lilypad blog soon.