The craft bug bit me hard over the summer. I had all these cute ideas for things I wanted to make, and I was heading to the land of the craft stores, aka the USA.
All of the things I've made so far have been centered around Q, surprise surprise! It's remarkable how much having a baby takes over every little aspect of your life.
The things I made turned out pretty well, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else wanted to make something similar. Might even put it on Pinterest.
My first project was a framed photo set. When Q was a few weeks old I was sitting with him in bed one day and he was fighting taking a nap, and the expressions on his face as he tried to settle into sleep were hilarious. We noticed right away how expressive his face is, but on this day, I turned on my phone and just kept taking pictures. For about 20 seconds I captured every little change that came across his face, and the results were hilarious. The range of emotion and feelings were something I wanted to remember forever.
So I looked for a suitable frame when we were back in the states and at Michaels I found the perfect one. I think it's made to house all of a child's school photos, there is one large 4x6 slot that had a kid in a graduation cap in the background picture. And then there are 12 little slots that hold a wallet sized photo. Kismet was working for me on this one, because that was pretty much exactly the number of pictures I had taken. Don't you just love it when things work in your favor?
I uploaded the pictures online with the Walmart photo center and was able to pick them up later that day. Then it was just a matter of getting some double sided tape and putting them all in place. My grandma helped me with this, and it didn't take us very long at all. I kept the photos in the order that they were taken, because it felt like a story to me and I wanted you to be able to see it develop. The end result turned out beautifully, I'm really happy with it.
My favorite part about the end result is how everyone that see's it instinctively wants to tell you which picture is their favorite. Mine is the third from the right on the bottom.
Unfortunately, since we know we're moving this summer, it didn't make sense to bring the frame back with us to Cairo. It was unnecessary weight that we would just end up having to move again in a few months, and the likelihood of the glass breaking with so many transatlantic voyages was too great. So we decided to leave it with my grandparents. At least someone gets to enjoy it on their wall until we're more settled.
The other project I started just a few weeks ago. I've been seeing all these awesome canvas projects on Pinterest that really sparked my interest because a canvas is so much lighter and durable than a traditional picture frame.
I decided I wanted to take Q's hand and feet prints (since they were never done at the hospital here) and put his name in between them. Something light and easy to hang in his room and that we can take with us wherever we end up next year.
At first my plans were very detailed, with the goal of taking his handprints every month so you could see them get bigger throughout the year. Like a memory of all the growth in his first year of life.
Ha Ha Ha! Wow I was really optimistic and a complete idiot. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a handprint of a 4 month old? If you've never experienced this, I dare you to try. No really, I double dog dare you. And if you can actually pull it off then please come over to my house and teach me how to get my kid to open his fist.
Therein lies the problem with trying to do this with a 4 month old. A newborn is a limp noodle most of the time, while messy, it could totally be done. An older child could at least understand the idea of opening their hand. A 4 month old clenches their fist around the paint you've carefully applied and either tries to stuff that paint covered fist in their mouth, or starts to cry when you wrestle their fingers open.
We had already successfully done his feet prints, and I carefully painted his name. The canvas was a beautiful work of art that I proceeded to mess up 3 times. Yep, that's right we tried to get his paint covered hand onto the canvas 3 times, and all were utter failures. And yes, I even tried it while he was sleeping, which was an even worse disaster because it didn't work and I ended up waking a sleeping baby. Yeah I know, I'm a dumb ass.
So eventually I gave up, repainted the canvas white for the 37th time (yeah because it took like 12 coats to cover each failed attempt) And this time I just painted his birthday at the top.
All of the things I've made so far have been centered around Q, surprise surprise! It's remarkable how much having a baby takes over every little aspect of your life.
The things I made turned out pretty well, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else wanted to make something similar. Might even put it on Pinterest.
My first project was a framed photo set. When Q was a few weeks old I was sitting with him in bed one day and he was fighting taking a nap, and the expressions on his face as he tried to settle into sleep were hilarious. We noticed right away how expressive his face is, but on this day, I turned on my phone and just kept taking pictures. For about 20 seconds I captured every little change that came across his face, and the results were hilarious. The range of emotion and feelings were something I wanted to remember forever.
So I looked for a suitable frame when we were back in the states and at Michaels I found the perfect one. I think it's made to house all of a child's school photos, there is one large 4x6 slot that had a kid in a graduation cap in the background picture. And then there are 12 little slots that hold a wallet sized photo. Kismet was working for me on this one, because that was pretty much exactly the number of pictures I had taken. Don't you just love it when things work in your favor?
I uploaded the pictures online with the Walmart photo center and was able to pick them up later that day. Then it was just a matter of getting some double sided tape and putting them all in place. My grandma helped me with this, and it didn't take us very long at all. I kept the photos in the order that they were taken, because it felt like a story to me and I wanted you to be able to see it develop. The end result turned out beautifully, I'm really happy with it.
My favorite part about the end result is how everyone that see's it instinctively wants to tell you which picture is their favorite. Mine is the third from the right on the bottom.
Unfortunately, since we know we're moving this summer, it didn't make sense to bring the frame back with us to Cairo. It was unnecessary weight that we would just end up having to move again in a few months, and the likelihood of the glass breaking with so many transatlantic voyages was too great. So we decided to leave it with my grandparents. At least someone gets to enjoy it on their wall until we're more settled.
The other project I started just a few weeks ago. I've been seeing all these awesome canvas projects on Pinterest that really sparked my interest because a canvas is so much lighter and durable than a traditional picture frame.
I decided I wanted to take Q's hand and feet prints (since they were never done at the hospital here) and put his name in between them. Something light and easy to hang in his room and that we can take with us wherever we end up next year.
At first my plans were very detailed, with the goal of taking his handprints every month so you could see them get bigger throughout the year. Like a memory of all the growth in his first year of life.
Ha Ha Ha! Wow I was really optimistic and a complete idiot. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a handprint of a 4 month old? If you've never experienced this, I dare you to try. No really, I double dog dare you. And if you can actually pull it off then please come over to my house and teach me how to get my kid to open his fist.
Therein lies the problem with trying to do this with a 4 month old. A newborn is a limp noodle most of the time, while messy, it could totally be done. An older child could at least understand the idea of opening their hand. A 4 month old clenches their fist around the paint you've carefully applied and either tries to stuff that paint covered fist in their mouth, or starts to cry when you wrestle their fingers open.
We had already successfully done his feet prints, and I carefully painted his name. The canvas was a beautiful work of art that I proceeded to mess up 3 times. Yep, that's right we tried to get his paint covered hand onto the canvas 3 times, and all were utter failures. And yes, I even tried it while he was sleeping, which was an even worse disaster because it didn't work and I ended up waking a sleeping baby. Yeah I know, I'm a dumb ass.
So eventually I gave up, repainted the canvas white for the 37th time (yeah because it took like 12 coats to cover each failed attempt) And this time I just painted his birthday at the top.
Sorry Q, you do have handprints. Lets wait about 5 years to try again.
The canvas turned out pretty well despite my stupidity, and I painted the sides blue as well, which adds a nice layer of depth when you look at it from an angle. Is it what I really wanted, no, but oh well, you can't cry over messed up handprints. :)
You are so crafty,congratulations on a job well done,but everything you do is great in my eyes,keep up the great work,enjoyed looking at your crafts.Gma
ReplyDeleteThose moments are fleeting, so you're smart to try and capture them. He will think they're funny in a few years.
ReplyDelete