We thought ‘dress up for the party’ meant pretty dresses and fancy shoes… It actually meant dress up in a costume – oops! Luckily the birthday girl kindly lent Miss G one of her many princess gowns.
Author: Jen
Craft Kit Gift
So it’s very possible that I’ve passed my love of gift giving onto Miss G… Besides regularly packaging up her personal belongings in paper envelopes held shut with washi tape to hand out to people during our day-to-day, she’s always suggesting we buy things to surprise people with while we’re out shopping too. This simple gift, however, took it to a whole new level. I don’t think she’s ever been so excited to give something to someone in her whole life. We made it to take to a crafty little friend’s birthday party today and what was Grae most excited about? Not a morning full of friends, treats, and fun. Nope. She was most excited to give her gift.
To date, most of our gifts to Miss G’s friends have been personalized wooden block sets, wooden memory match games, pretty headbands, and DIY felt boards with a few of our favourite felt board games (can you tell that I’m a big fan of handmade?), but here at The Dunes, those things are a little too ‘young’ for the slightly order crew of kiddos. With the birthday girl being a big fan of arts and crafts, we knew exactly what we could put together for her… A fun craft kit filled with all sorts of interesting supplies! So that’s just what we did.
Friday Morning in Fahaheel
Created by Gracen: Animal Dough Disguises
Play dough is an everyday thing in our house. Grae is free to use the bin of tools and dough we keep in the main living space of our home at any time and she also has a smaller set in her bedroom to use during quiet play time too.
First Ballet Slippers Shadow Box
Aw… My little lady is growing up. We arrived to Kuwait, enrolled in a parent and tot ballet program, and arrived to the first class only to discover that the ballet slippers I was sure would last her until next summer were already too small. Sad day. Those little slippers – her very first pair – have been a part of many lovely memories and a ridiculous amount of cuteness {like this and this and this} and I couldn’t bear to get rid of them.
Rules for Clothes
iPhoneography // Creative
Today while at Zebra, one of our favourite book / craft supply stores here in Kuwait, Gracen asked if she could choose a package of stickers to take home with her. I agreed and she took her time selecting the perfect set… A collection of helicopters! When we got home, she asked for our roadway washi tape and a couple of cloud shapes drawn on white paper. I obliged and began making lunch while she put together this… I asked her about it and she explained that the blue paper is for the blue sky, the helicopters are flying in the clouds, and the road is for them to land on when they’re done flying. Seeing her proudly dream up and create scenes like this all on her own makes my mama heart very happy.
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Baking Soda Clay Handprint Keepsakes
Okay, I fully admit it… Between the yearly handprint canvas we did just a couple of months ago and the paper strip handprint art we did just a couple of days ago, we may be a teensy bit handprint obsessed. I can’t help it. I don’t know if it’s the Kindergarten teacher in me or the mama in me, but having these little handprints frozen in time just makes my heart happy.
These keepsakes are a favourite in our house. Miss G and I have made variations of this project many times in the past, some of which have become decor, some heartfelt gifts, and others Christmas tree ornaments.
No matter what they become in the end, we always make them out of our very favourite homemade baking soda clay. This stuff is a dream to work with and is super easy and inexpensive to make {plus you most likely have erything you need to make it in your kitchen at this very moment!}
How you decorate them is up to you, but we went with GLITTER this time around, which both Miss G and I loved. So pretty, right?! {Not to mention that it’s super forgiving when it comes to little cracks and imperfections along the edges of the keepsake… Add glitter and consider them gone!}
For all of the details of this project, as well as our simple baking soda clay recipe, pop on over to CBC Parents and check out our Baking Soda Clay Handprint Keepsakes post.
FYI: With the recipe in the link, we made our handprint keepsake, plus 20 small cookie cutter ornaments, which is probably equivalent to 3 or 4 handprint ornaments {depending on the size you make them of course}.
Admittedly, baking soda clay can be a little finicky sometimes… For tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years, click here.
While you’re at it, check out some of our other favourite handprint projects here.
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{Quick & Easy} Poppy Hair Clip
This morning as Miss G created play dough costumes for her animal figurines (her new thing), I sat down beside her and worked on a quick and easy project of my own – making her a poppy to wear in honour of Remembrance Day, as they’re not available here in Kuwait.
Paper Strip Handprint Art {& Keepsake}
While we’re all set up in our new place with the day-to-day essentials, we’re still working on making our house feel like home. So far, Gracen’s room seems to feel the most homey, largely in part to the fact that it’s the only space in the house with anything on the walls. It’s still a work in progress, but we’ve framed several photos and a couple of my favourite downloadable prints, and we’ve been working on adding a few homemade pieces too.
A November Beach Picnic
Words of Encouragement
Remembrance Day Poppy Wreath
After taking down our Halloween footprint bunting during our major clean-up today, Gracen and I decided we needed something new on our apartment door – something to help celebrate Remembrance Day. After searching around the web for a few minutes, we found this beautiful poppy wreath craft kit and decided we could make our own version. We didn’t have red tissue paper on hand and it feels like we’ve worked with coffee filters a lot lately, so cupcake liners it was!
Cut & Paste City Car Mat
Deep in a bin of secondhand Duplo I picked up yesterday, Miss G discovered a tiny little Lightening McQueen car and immediately fell in love. Though she’s not really watched any movies yet, she and Brad have watched bits and pieces of Cars on their special days together and she adores the characters. Upon discovering him, she suggested that we build him a track to drive on. She most likely had our painter’s tape roadway in mind, but when I suggested a cut and paste city with lots of roads for driving, she was more than game.
