One Year Paw Prints

Alexandria thoughtfully (with some extra thought by Mama) got both my husband and I the same frame/kit for Christmas that we could use to make a keepsake for her first birthday.  She bought the BabyPrints - Photo and Baby Footprint Desktop Frame at Babysakes.com.  They have various versions of the same idea, but we thought it would be nice to have a picture with the print.  The frames come in all different sizes, colors and layouts so you can pick whichever you like the most.  We also chose to have my husband's be a footprint and mine be a hand print so we had one of each as a keepsake.

Things you'll need:
 - BabyPrints kit (or substitute using the suggestion in the note at the bottom of the post)
 - Baby for hands & feet
 - Aluminum foil
 - Hardcover book about 8 inches square (I used one of Alex's many board books)

The instructions were pretty good that came with the kit.  You cover a book with the aluminum foil so you have a non-sticky surface to roll the 'printing clay' on.  You knead the printing clay for a few minutes (make sure your hands are clean as any spec of dust/dirt shows on the white clay) and then roll it out on the board.  You might want to keep in mind while rolling what type of shape you'd like the print to end up on.  My rolling came out in circles / ovals, so I just rounded them up a bit after we did the print to make them more uniform.  You could also roll it so that it's more of a rectangle / square shape so you can make even edge trims after you do the print.  Whichever you choose, I would say I rolled it until it was about a 1/4 inch thick or maybe a little more.  There's really no science or trick to getting a level surface, but now that I think about it, I may have been able to press a book on top of it to level it off and make it even; might be worth a try!

As with others, my husband's help was needed for the foot print to hold Alex up over the print.  We did let her put a decent amount of weight on her foot once it was placed on the clay.  With the hand, I sat her on my lap and put her palm down on the clay first while I spread out her fingers and then smushed her hand into the clay. 

You then let the prints sit for a few hours and then flip them over based on the instructions so that the backs could dry.  Personally, I let them sit just the way they were for a day because when I tried to flip it over, some of the clay was sticking to the foil and I didn't want to ruin it.  I think we let them sit for about 4 days and I flipped them back so that the print was facing out after a day of the back facing out.  After it's dry, you assemble them in the frames and are done!  Now they provide double sided sticky tape for this which does NOT work, so I'd try to use something more permanent to stick the print to the matte they provide so that it stays on better.  Here's the final product!

Because the hand print was larger than would fit in the white matte frames they provided, you can see the brown piece in the print side of the frame that separates the glass from the print.  The white mattes they included in the kit covered some of the hand print edges, so I just didn't put them in.  I'm considering painting the brown piece white so that it contrasts better with the other side and doesn't look dingy!  After that, all I have to do is find an empty wall or table top on which to display them!

**NOTE: If you'd like to do this without buying a kit, I suggest using Crayola Model Magic as it is the same consistency and has the same drying effects as the 'printing clay' that came with the kit.  You'd just have to find a frame that you could use that had some depth on one side so that the hand/foot print would have room to fit behind the glass.

Ladybug Rocks

With a ladybug extravaganza for Alexandria's 1st Birthday celebration to plan, I was trying to come up with a cute centerpiece that was easy, not expensive and one that I could get Emma involved in.  I remembered the cute little ladybug rock that Emma made me for this past Mother's Day and decided to make a bunch of them for the centers of each table.

Things you'll need:
 - Round rocks - any size will work, just a lot more effort the larger the rock
 - Red and Black paint
 - Paint Brush
 - Plastic Google-y Eyes
 - Clear glue

First you paint the rock red which is pretty simple.  You may need to do a few coats to get full coverage and you'll need to plan for the rock to dry before you flip it over to paint the bottom.  After the red is done, you paint a circle of black at one end of the rock.  I'd love to tell you there's a science to it, but there isn't.  You be the judge as to how big or little you'd like the head to be.  Next you add black dots to the back with the paint brush (I used a smaller brush); again, no rhyme or reason to them.  Final touches are to add some google-y eyes to the head using clear glue.  I got a bag of ~300 eyes for about $5 at Walmart that has all different sizes in it, so I just used whatever size I thought worked best depending on how big the rock was.  Here's the final product; pretty easy and definitely something you can get your kids involved in.

Photo only looks amazing because it was taken by my friend and photographer, Steph aka. S.M.I.T.T.E.N. Photography.  The leaf was one I made really quickly with my Cricut to throw underneath the ladybugs on each table.  They also doubled as a weight to hold down the balloons!

Child Designed Bookmarks

Being an avid reader (well...more so when I wasn't chasing after a 1-year old) and having multiple book lovers in the family, we really try to instill a love for reading in our children.  Emma loves to read and does amazingly well in reading at school.  Alexandria already opens her books and babbles as she turns the pages.

Because of this, I thought it would be neat to make bookmarks for everyone in the family that likes to read while occupying Emma during an uneventful day.  We had done this in the past, so I definitely have some lessons learned, but wanted to make some more for the holidays (and because Uncle Jason directly requested a new bookmark).

Things you'll need:
 - Paper - I use the white scrapbooking sheets that come pre-filled in the clear pages since I have a bunch of that extra, but you can use any kind of paper/color you like.  I'd recommend something thicker than printer paper in case you use markers so it doesn't bleed through to the other side.
 - Scissors
 - A few sheets of laminate (more on this later)
 - Pencil, pens, markers, crayons - whatever they want to draw with
 - Ruler or straight edge of some sort

First things first is to decide how big you'd like them to be.  The first time, we made them about 6 inches by 2 inches (worked well cutting the 12x12 scrapbooking paper into equal pieces).  I liked this size much better than when we made them this time about 6x3 inches.  You'll see why later when we laminate them.

One trick that we learned after the first time was to write the name of whoever the bookmark was for on the back before drawing a picture on the other side.  When mass-producing bookmarks, it definitely makes life easier to remember who's was who's when you're staring at 8+ bookmarks with similar designs!

After all of the pictures have been drawn, it's time to laminate them.  I purchased sheets of laminate in 8.5x11 inches sizes that had a hard clear front and then a less sturdy (sticky) clear back.  This way it gives the bookmarks some support so they don't bend and is easier to laminate than if you had two flimsy sides.  I will say that they were more expensive than I originally assumed, so you can decide for yourself.  Line up the bookmarks on the non-sticky piece of laminate so that they're about 3/4's of an inch apart.  You'll need the extra in between for the edges of the bookmark so that they don't come undone.

I also try to use the nice edges at the end to line them up against so that some sides of the bookmark won't have a 'hand-cut' edge to them.  Now here's the tricky part, you have to peel the paper off of the sticky side while at the same time using the ruler as a guide to press the sticky side to the non-sticky side.  Slow and steady wins the race with this one!  This is why it's also good to position the bookmarks towards the edge so that you can start sticking the two sides together before you get to the bookmarks.

You want to keep sliding the ruler along the page so that it presses the two sheets together.  Absolutely pause and re-align the bookmark edges when you get close to starting to laminate over them so that they don't shift.  After you're at the end, take the ruler and rub all over the laminate to make sure it's together and that all air bubbles are out.  I also make sure to go around the edges of the bookmark a few times to ensure that there's a good seal.

Once they're fully together, you can cut them apart and leave however much you'd like of the clear laminate as a border.  I'd recommend to not cut too close to the actual bookmark so that the two sides of laminate don't separate with wear.  I'd also suggest from experience to round the corners; our first set were like daggers on the corners!

The finished product!  Emma's this Christmas were a penguin sliding theme with her newly learned dialogue bubbles! :)  They make cute personal gifts from the kids that every book-lover can enjoy.  We use them all of the time at our house and could probably use a few more!  Happy reading!

Hands & Feet Rudolph

When pondering what to get/make for Alexandria's teachers at daycare, I figured a cute little arts and crafts project would be perfect to give them along with a more traditional gift card.  I ran across the idea for this somewhere along my internet travels and wanted to give it a try.

Things you'll need:
 - Paint brushes
 - Brown paint
 - Google eyes (or you can draw them on) - I found a large bag at Walmart for $4
 - Red paint (or you can use a red puff ball...which I didn't have for this)
 - Sharpie or black marker
 - Piece(s) of paper
 - 2 hands and one foot :)

First things first, lay out all of the paper in a paint-proof environment.  This time I used the kitchen floor because I had the help of my husband to hold the stamper!  You pretty much just need the brown paint, a paintbrush, and the paper at this point.  I had my husband hold Alexandria's foot in the air while I painted the bottom brown.  (Of course you have to notice the toe curl from the tickle!)

From there, you use on hand positioned at the top of the heel mark to the left and the other to the right.  To be completely honest, I have no idea if it would look better with the thumbs in or out.

I pretty much just grabbed a hand, stamped it wherever it fell and proceeded down the line.  We made four, so it was an assembly line of paint, stamp, re-apply paint and stamp.  One hand at a time, obviously wash in between, and try to keep as tight of a hold as possible on the stamper!!!  My husband was definitely a huge help in this craft.  I will say that Alex does a lot better with the paint/stamp method now than she has in the past.  Here's a picture of the outcome after stamping.  As you can see, they all look different :)

After they dried, I added a little smirk/smile right above the toe line with the black permanent marker, added two google-eyes right where the heel part starts and a red circle nose.  Again, with the nose, I used paint and just applied it really thick so it would cover the brown, but I did see someone who used a red puff ball that also looked cute.  Here's the final product!  The teacher's loved them and we have one proudly displayed on our fridge :)

I hope everyone enjoys the project and has a happy holiday!!!

Personalized Calendars

One of my husband's favorite gifts every year for his birthday is the personalized calendar that I make for him.  While you may be thinking, 'Oh, this isn't all that crafty,' you are correct; however that's why I'm a 'not so crafty mama'! :)

With all of the options available across various websites, I'd have to say that I like Shutterfly's utility the best for putting together the calendar.  I've used Snapfish in the past and that has also worked well.  It also helps that I already upload all of my pictures to that site to share my pictures with family (another not so crafty post to come!), so they're readily available to add to our calendar.

The theory for pictures that I use on the calendar goes like this; for every month on the calendar I'm making I use pictures taken during that month from the current year (ex. for our 2011 calendar, I use pictures from June 2010 on the June 2011 page).  This at least keeps some consistency with the calendar and provides a reflective reminder of where you were this time last year; our 2010 December calendar shows me as 9 months pregnant and pictures from Alexandria's birth!  Now I'm no longer 9 months pregnant and Alexandria is about to turn 1 in a few short weeks; how times change...

Enough nostalgia for now and back to the calendar.  I thought I'd list a couple of the tips and tricks I use to get this thing put together.

• Decide early whether you actually want to see some of the designs on each of the pages or if you strictly want to see all pictures.  I've gotten 1/2 way through and changed my mind, so it's a time-saver if you want it to be consistent throughout to make up your mind early.  Below is a picture from the back of our 2010 calendar where it shows you the picture part of every month.

• Do one month of pictures at a time.  This helps with keeping only pictures from that month on the month that you're focusing on.  Emma loves helping me pick the pictures we should use and figuring out where they should go on the calendar, so even your kids can be involved in the activity.
• Save pictures from the months that you didn't have room for to add to various holiday 'days' on the actual calendars day portion.  I love adding some of my favorites on random days throughout the months.
• Add in all of your family birthdays, anniversaries, and even vacations if you know the dates.  It makes my month in August when I see a week filled with pictures from last years trip from the beach representing the week we're going to the beach on the new calendar.  (I also enjoy putting goofy pictures of my husband on the day of his birthday to give him a good laugh!)  See below for an example of the what the top/bottom of the calendar looks like and how there are images on the dates.

 

• Add other personal dates to the calendar to add pictures to.  I've added dates for Alexandria's due date, my husband and I's first date, Alexandria's 1/2 birthday celebration, Trick-or-Treat night, etc.  Anything you want can be added.
• Don't forget you can zoom the photos so that you make sure you can show the part of the photo that you want to focus on.  This is especially useful for the pictures on the dates since they are small, so you'll want to make sure that you zoom (crop) in on exactly what you want to see.

The best part about all of this is that next year when you go back to make edits, the website saves your dates to reuse on the new calendar which is a BIG time saver!  Some even saves the pictures so that you can reuse the pictures you chose for people's birthday's last year on the new calendar without having to add them all individually again.

Now, I should probably get back to creating the one for 2011 since I'm behind on getting it done!!!  Feel free to comment with any questions if you get stuck.

Fall Bumpkins

Recently my girls and I went to a pottery painting store to make some Christmas/Birthday presents for Daddy.  While browsing the store's website to get some ideas before going (since I'm not so crafty!), I came across a plate with a pumpkin on it...a 'bum'pkin!!!  Now I thought this was beyond adorable and something I had to do (just not in public in the middle of a store)...and so it became our at home project.

Things you'll need:
- orange and green washable paint
- paint brush
- paper plate (unless your child will stay put long enough to paint their bum!)
- whatever you'd like to put the bum on - we used white construction paper
- a paint proof location and a tiny bum :)

First I poured some paint onto the paper plate and spread it around.  Unfortunately you can't tell in the picture how quickly I had to do this while Alexandria started unrolling the toilet paper!

Then I put the paper plate with paint on the floor next to 3 pieces of paper.  I'm not sure there's an 'art form' to getting this accomplished, but I sat her bum on the paper plate and smushed her down a bit.  After that I picked her up and plopped her back on the floor on top of a piece of paper.  You'll see in the pictures that the bottom of the bumpkin (near her legs) isn't quite as round it probably should have been.  My only resolution to this would be to hold your child between your arms with their legs up and get only bums to stamp on the paper.

Next we cleaned up because I'm not sure anyone wants their child running around with a wet paint orange bum while you're trying to draw on the stem!  The stem was simple; just a quick brush stroke and you're done.  BUMpkins!!!

A few notes about me...

I'm a married, full-time working mom of two.  I have a gorgeous step-daughter Emma (born in 2004) and a beautiful little lady, Alexandria who was born on New Years Eve in 2009.  My husband circa 2008 is my rock and will even assist in my craft attempts with the girls if I ask nicely; although I try to do a lot of the crafts during my solo time with the girls.

Between keeping up with work, life, and activities - I realized that I had very little time to do crafts with the girls in addition to not ever feeling like a very 'crafty' person (thus the blog title!).  I've always loved to scrapbook, but stared in awe of the pages people put together in the magazines and wonder how in the world I could ever have that 'vision' or 'artistic look' to my pages.

At some point I realized that the outcome didn't matter; it was the experience of making a memory and storing that memory that mattered most.  Thus, the crafts that I do with my kids (and my scrapbooking pages for that matter) may not be publishable pieces of art, but they created lasting memories, fun experiences and I chose to share those moments with you in hopes that you can make some of your own.

My Family: Emma, Myself (Mama), Alexandria, and Rob (Daddy)