This summer, just before we left Vancouver for good, we were lucky enough to sneak in a birthday party for one of Miss G’s special little friends. We had been swamped with the move and we were living with next to nothing and sleeping on foams by the time we got around to putting together a gift for the birthday girl if I remember correctly, but we just couldn’t help but put together something special. {Miss G’s totally inherited my love of gift giving.}
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When I messaged my friend Tairalyn {of Little Miss Mama – the birthday girl’s mama} to ask what Sof was really enjoying at the moment, she told me that she loved anything creative and she still really liked dolls. I’m not sure how the idea came about exactly, but Miss G and I decided that a little create your own peg doll family kit would be the perfect gift. Creative and with dolls – perfect!
Grae and I wasted no time. Our first stop was Main Street to hit up two of our favourite shops. First up, Collage Collage, our beloved art studio that carries the BEST art supplies} for a family of unfinished wooden peg dolls {CAN}. Keeping in mind Sofia’s family, Grae picked one doll to represent each family member and then we were off to Westcoast Kids for one of these little blackboard house shelves I had seen {and swooned over} on a previous trip. Now that being said, I’ve since seen little wooden house shelves {CAN – similar} at our local Dollarama, so if you’re on a smaller budget, that might be a good option.
Next up, we were off to the dollar store for a few basic craft supplies. Here’s what we bought:
– acrylic paint {CAN} to actually paint the wooden peg dolls {Miss G opted for a colour she thought would work well as a skin tone and then pink and blue which could also be blended to make various shades of purple – clever little thing!}
– a package of paintbrushes
– an interestingly textured ball of yarn {or twine? not sure what it is exactly – to serve as hair}
– glitter glue {CAN} for added fanciness {but of course}
– a packet of permanent markers {for drawing on details}
– teeny tiny googly eyes {CAN}
– some tiny containers {CAN} to house our googly eyes
– we also wanted a package of chalk, but they didn’t have any and we were on a time crunch!
And then it was home to assemble it all!
The point of the little house shelf was to display the peg doll family and thankfully they were a perfect fit! I love the fact that the shelf has a blackboard backing as it’s perfect for designing a background for the peg doll family.
Putting together our create your own peg doll family kit was a breeze. First up, I went to my go-to trick when buying packages of art supplies from the dollar store for gifts – downsize and ditch the packaging! {We used this trick when we put together our DIY science kit too and I think it makes such a huge difference presentation-wise}. A few pretty coloured rubber bands or some washi tape in a coordinating colour is a much prettier way to hold supplies together. ;)
Next, we played around with the organization of all of our goodies until we liked the fit.
Ready to go!
I don’t know why, but when it comes to our homemade gifts for kids, I very rarely feel the need to wrap them. If it’s a kit in one of our go-to GLIS divided containers from IKEA, we usually just close it up, add some baker’s twine {CAN} and a pretty tag, and call it done.
This time around, our options were pretty limited as most everything had been sent off to Vernon in our Big Steel Box already, but we had some cellophane and clear tape on hand, so that’s what we used.
Then we added a little tag and voila – our gift was complete!
The very best part? Check out what my friend Tairalyn just recently posted. GAH! Absolute perfection. I just adoooorrrrre the finished product. And that top knot Little Miss Mama is rocking?! THE. VERY. BEST.
Now I’m thinking I may have to put together the same project for Miss G…
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