Archives for posts with tag: crafty

Monday night I went into a fit of creativity. I have had a step stool to paint for Jack for a long time. Maybe close to a year? It was sitting in his closet. For some reason Monday night I decided to go ahead and paint paint paint. The wake was Tuesday. I think I was trying to keep my mind off of my aunt and what the next two days meant. Usually it takes me a few days to finish a painting project. Not this time. I did it all in one night. A few layers of paint and everything…..I was determined. We all deal with grief in our own way.

Behold the Mater step stool. Or as Jack calls him “TOW”

Mater step stool

Side of step stool

I did this all freehand. No stencils. I basically took Jack’s Mater car and used that as my model. What I liked about this project is that it didn’t have to be perfect. Mater is rusty and has dents. He treasures those things about himself because they all tie back to wonderful memories. Mater has a thing or two to teach us.

I mixed a lot of colors to get the right shades. I didn’t go and buy any new paints or brushes.  I used browns, reds, oranges, blues, greens, and white to get the perfect shades for Mater. When I showed it to Jack he said Tow! He still isn’t so fond of standing on it too long. At least last night he kept wanting to get down and brush his teeth. It is a new thing though, standing on a step stool. He will get it and enjoy it one day.

It did keep my mind busy for a few hours. But Tuesday came. So did Wednesday. Wednesday was hard. Very hard. Yesterday was ok. Jack and I had a jammy day. Just hung out at home. It was raining on and off all day anyway. Today we have swim. I still cannot believe my aunt wont be around any more. I truly can’t grasp this concept.

 

For the past week or so I have been working on a new crafty project. My son is obsessed with cars, trucks, vans, etc. VEHICLES rule his world. We cannot leave the house without cars in tow. In particular we cannot leave without Mater and Lightning McQueen.

As you can see, Lightning in particular is rather loved. He is in need of a fresh paint job. I can bring along other cars. He will play with them sure, but only if he also has Mater and Lightning. If I do not have both of them he will shake his head no and point at my purse over and over until he gets the right cars. If he doesn’t get the right car, prepare yourself for a meltdown!

So my kid’s lovies are two cars. Not a blanket or a stuffed animal but metal/plastic cars. Always in his hands. He has even managed to master being able to hold them both and pick up other objects.

Now that you have the background back to my project. I made him a car mat. For him to play with and drive his cars around his town. He has started to drive them around things and make a car sound. I figured it was time for him to have roads to play on.

It is a yard long

I made it from felt. I hand cut all of the pieces. I mean it is not perfect scale or size etc. But I think that adds to the charm of it. The words are actually scrapbooking letter stickers I had. I hot glued everything down. Even the letters.The cutting and the layout took a while. I created it all before gluing anything. Made sure it looked how I wanted. I then ran out of hot glue one evening this week while he was sleeping. He was super cranky all week so we didn’t make it to the craft store until Thursday. I didn’t have the time or energy to finish it until yesterday during nap time. It took me a couple hours to glue it all down. At least 2 hours for sure. Maybe longer. I sort of lost track of time. Thankfully we had been at the beach/park/spray park all morning and he took a long nap.

He did love it! I showed him how to drive his cars on the road and he picked up on it pretty quick. When he saw it he immediately tried to pick one of the lakes up off of the mat. It cracked me up because it was glued down and he was a little confused. I have been contemplating making him a felt board. With felt shapes to stick on it. Now that I saw him do that with the mat I will be making that board.

A little fact about me. I am a huge crafter. I love crafting. It is actually kind of ridiculous how much craft stuff I own. From scrapbooking to painting. I cannot get enough. I was recently introduced to Pinterest. YOWZA I am addicted. But it is a good thing because I have been getting tons of ideas for projects.

I am currently planning Jack’s 1st birthday party. (I also love planning parties) It will be a Mickey theme. Jack’s Mousekeparty. I saw a sign on Pinterest that I thought was a cute idea. A sign for the party! If you check out the link for the sign you will see that I really put my own spin on it. I just gathered the idea OF a sign from seeing one on Pinterest.

This is Jack’s party sign. I hand painted it all. Every single letter even! I still have to decide how I will display it. If I will try to hang it or get a stand for it. I am happy that I have actually been creating things after spending so much time on that site. I have made a number of items I have discovered. I am not just wasting time with a wish list of crafts I never get to! I am also excited that I have one thing totally completed for Jack’s party.