Tag Archives: gift

DIY Floral Handprint Art

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If you’re looking for a memorable and easy craft for Mother’s Day, you’ll love this DIY Floral Handprint Art.

Not only was it simple to make, my four year old helped me through it all.

If you haven’t noticed by my last few posts on social media, we’re in a hand art phase. I think it’s a mix of wanting to preserve how little she is and they’re easy to do!

I’ve had this floating frame in my house for about a year. In my head I pictured it with pressed flowers all around. Then, the past few days I thought it’d be a perfect Mother’s Day gift to myself.

So, with Mila’s help and flowers from Josh, we created something beautiful.

For this DIY Floral Handprint Art, you’ll need:

*You can find this frame here.*

First, clean off your frame. I like to do this so I don’t noticed smudges after everything is finished. Plus, it’s nice to work with a clear area.

Then, paint your child’s hand. Mila picked pink, of course and I thought it looked beautiful. When it’s painted, firmly press your child’s hand on the inside pane of glass. If there’s a few missing space, you can repaint their hand and redo the process!

Next, let your child put the pressed flowers where they’d like.

When they have their final spot, clasp the second glass pane to keep the handprint and flowers safe.

On the outside, I decided to paint the word love and the year on the corner. “Love” was purely decorative, but the date is something I do on all of our projects!

Then you’re all finished.

I truly think this DIY Floral Handprint Art would be a lovely piece for moms, grandmas, and every other mother figure in your child’s life.

What’s your tips on pressing or drying flowers? I’d love to hear different ways… especially with Mila’s love of flower picking.

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DIY Gardening Grow Kit

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If you’re looking to surprise a gardener in your life with a little gift, this DIY Gardening Grow Kit will be a hit!

Mila and I LOVE to garden. We try to grow vegetables every year and eat what we produce. It’s always a fun way for her to learn about the growing cycle and show her how much work it takes to make our food. She’s always very into growing flowers and making arrangements.

Let’s just say, we always are surrounded by plants and gardening supplies!

Since this time of the year is so close to Mother’s Day and end of the year, this is a great gift to give and easy to assemble too. You can find all these items at any local store.

Here’s what we used:

I love being able to put all the items into the watering can. It makes for an easy gift bag. You could also add ribbon or a printable with it too.

Even though I added flower seed packets, you could easily do veggies or even DIY seed bombs in there too. If you’d rather skip seeds in general, putting a plant inside of the watering can would be a cute idea too!

For soil, I would suggest either buying a whole potting soil bag or putting enough for a pot in a ziplock bag. You can easily stuff in it the bottom of the watering can.

This DIY Gardening Grow Kit will be perfect for the mothers, teachers, or any gardeners in your life!

What’s your favorite outdoor plants to grow: flower or veggies?

DIY Valentine’s Day Cards: You Color My World

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Is there anything more nostalgic than a school Valentine’s Day Party? The rush of having a cute card box and picking out the perfect Valentine’s Day card for your friends. They’re little reminders to show your friends that they are loved.

Since this is Mila’s first year at school for the big event, we decided to make a DIY Valentine’s Day Cards.

It’s been so much fun creating for Valentine’s Day. If we hadn’t had so many snow days, I’m unsure whether or not DIY cards would be in the picture, but I’m happy they are.

Mila and I talked about different Valentine’s Day cards and gifts. We decided we liked the phrase, “You Color My World.” Mostly because I pushed it really hard because I was already thinking about crayons

A lot of the elements in these Valentine’s Day cards should look familiar!

On the front of the cards, if you can remember to a few blog posts ago, Mila had already painted the tops of her cards. All I did was take the dry pages and cut them out into small rectangles. Then, I wrote “You Color My World” with glitter markers over it.

For the back, I cut the same size rectangle with white card stock and taped them together. If the back of the painted paper wasn’t messy, I would have skipped this step.

Next, I wrote “to” and the name of Mila’s classmate. Then, I had Mila write her name under the “from.” I think it’s important she keeps writing her name and actively participates in helping with these DIYs.

On the back of the card, I made space either on the side of their names or above for a little gift. Since we were doing “You Color My World,” we had to make personalized crayons.

Last year, I wrote a blog post on how to make these letter crayons.

The short version…

Preheat your oven to 250°.

Then, you need to either buy unwrapped crayons or unwrap a lot of them. When that’s done, you chop them into small pieces to put into a letter mold.

After, pop them in the oven until they’re all melted and wait until they’re hard to get them out of the mold.

The absolute hardest part is getting them out of the mold.

Take your time and you’ll be fine!

To literally wrap these DIY Valentine’s Day cards up, I took different colored yarn and secured the letters on them.

I love how the yarn makes them a little extra special too.

Personally, I think these turned out adorable. It took more time to and effort to make instead of buy, but I think it was worth it!

Mila said she loved them and that’s all that really matters.

Fingers crossed her classmates will feel the same.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever made your own Valentine’s Day cards.

Christmas Activity: DIY Wrapping Paper

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Looking for a different way to make your Christmas gifts even more special? Try this DIY Wrapping Paper. I promise your family and friends will love getting their gifts wrapped in paper that’s made with love. And… your kids will be really proud of themselves when they show it off to them too.

Making our own wrapping paper is a big Christmas Bucket List item for us. We did it her first Christmas and now it’s become a fun tradition. I know my parents always look forward to seeing her wrapping paper. This year, she made it for her friends at preschool. I’m sure we’ll be doing this Christmas Activity more than once this year.

Maybe this can become a fun tradition for your family too! Here’s what you’ll need to make your own wrapping paper:

  • Brown craft paper
  • Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Cookie cutters

This activity is super simple in the best way. You get to let your child be as creative as they want to be. PLUS, they get to be messy too! I think all kids like that aspect of that.

To set up, all I did was lay out brown kraft paper, pour paint on a separate paper plate, and laid out her tools (paint brushes, cookie cutters, bingo daubers). She did everything else all by herself. I would also suggest laying trash bags down if you want to keep your surface clean.

I played Christmas music and had Mila explain to me what she was drawing. The one section was a whole scene with people. It’s fun to hear their thought process.

After they’re done creating, just let your wrapping paper dry.

Then, just wrap your presents like normal. I tried to get Mila to paint more in the middle so you could see the design. We also love to add yarn and ribbon to make presents even more special.

Mila was super proud of her wrapping paper. It’s so unique. We’ve done it every year and each year it looks so different. It’s a great way to capture her growth. It also feels like a present within a present when you give to others. I love gifting her artwork and this is a fun way to do that while being useful too!

Even though we normally do this for Christmas, I’d love to do it for different birthdays or holidays.

Let me know in the comments…

Have you ever made your own wrapping paper? OR what recycled products do you use for wrapping paper?

Easy DIY Teacher Christmas Gift

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It’s the season of giving! To give back to Mila’s teachers, we decided to do an easy DIY gift I think her teachers will love. Made with a lot of love and something to remember her when they bake, we came up with this ‘smart cookie’ bundle.

Since Mila is in preschool and has three classroom teachers, I needed a gift that was simple to put together and not super costly. Instead of just doing a mug with hot chocolate, I thought of what Mila and I love to do during Christmastime: make cookies!

A quick internet search led me to the little quote on the pot holder and it all came together!

All I needed for this Easy DIY Teacher Christmas Gift was:

  • Pot holder
  • Whisk
  • Chocolate chip cookie mix
  • DIY Ornament
  • Cricut
  • Sparkly iron on vinyl
  • Fluffy yarn

The most tasking part of this DIY gift was making the pot holder. If you have a Cricut and know how to use it, you should be golden.

My friend made me the image and I did everything else. Thank goodness for friends who can help out (thanks Dana!). If you don’t know how to use a Cricut or don’t have one, I’m sure a friend or family member would be willing to help out. There’s also a ton of different pot holders on Etsy you could quickly order… but it’s seriously easy to DIY.

One issue with ironing this design on was all the stitching. I had to really maneuver it and press really hard for it to stay on. Once it got on there, I think it looked really cute. I’m so glad I had the glitter vinyl at home!

I bought the cookie mix and whisk, but I DIY’d the ornament.

All I used was cardboard, a hot glue gun, and fluffy yarn. I’m going to do another in-depth blog post in the next few days about these DIY ornaments. You could also purchase one or make another type of DIY one.

When we actually give these gifts to Mila’s teachers, it’ll be easy to wrap up and hand to them. I love how it all looks together and I just used an extra piece of yarn to complete it. This could also be done with an oven mit. The items would just sit in it instead.

Some extra things we’re going to add that aren’t pictured here are little paintings from Mila in a Christmas card. She is adamant about making them something, so that’ll be a fun project.

This Easy DIY Teacher Gift is perfect for busy parents who want to make their teacher gift special without breaking the bank or being SUPER creative. Hopefully this will give you some inspiration and take a little stress off of you this holiday season.

Wondering what to get other people in your life? Check out these two gift guides I made this year:

Let me know in the comments what your go-to teacher gift is. OR if you’re a preschool or elementary school teacher, let us know what you’d like to receive or what would be helpful. I’d love to know more things to get in the future for Mila’s educators.

DIY Handprint Photo Display.

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Grandparent’s Day is this weekend! To celebrate, I, with the help of my favorite littles, helped create a DIY Handprint Photo Display.

One of my favorite ways to include Jensen with our family is to use his hand and foot prints. I learned how to transfer these a few years ago and I’m so thankful.

He’s always a part of our family.

My parents love pictures; my dad constantly takes them. Any gift that includes showcasing the grandkids is one they’re going to love.

This Handprint Photo Display is easy to do at home too! You’ll only need a few things…

First, attach a sawtooth hanger or whatever hanging device you like to the back. I normally do this first so I don’t hurt anything on the front when I hammer the hanger in.

The next and probably the most fun part of this DIY gift is the handprints.

You can find an ink pad at your local craft store. I think I found the one I’ve been using at Joann Fabrics. I’ve had it for a few years and it’s still full of ink!

There’s really no trick in getting the handprints nicely on there.

Since Mila is three, she can do it better than when she was younger. Isla, my niece, did not like the ink on her hands. I still think her handprint turned out adorable!

Just gentle press their hands on the pad then whatever else you’re using. Make sure to wipe their hands off after.

For Jensen’s, I do my special process. If you’d like to see some of my work, check out my Etsy page: Grey Woods Design.

Then, write their names over top their handprints. I just used a thin Sharpie, but you could use paint or even a circuit for this step.

After, heat up your hot glue gun and attach the clothes pins.

Add pictures of your parents’ favorite kids and you’ll have a perfect DIY Handprint Photo Display!

Although I didn’t take a ton of pictures of this DIY, I hope you liked the video! It was so much fun to do.

Do you celebrate Grandparent’s Day? If so what do you give to your grandparents?

Valentine’s Day Gift: I Love You Instax Picture and Frame

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If you want to show off the cutest series of photos at the office, in your home, or even as a gift, you should definitely try this out!

‘I love you.’

We have an Instax camera and love snapping pictures. Mila likes how the film instantly come out and their aesthetic pleases me.

I got an idea to make myself (sorry not sorry) a Valentine’s Day present that I can always remember Mila at this time. So, we had a little photo shoot.

Obviously, she loved getting dressed up and making her hair ‘pretty.’ She was all for it!

Then it was time to shoot.

Since I can’t have Mila’s voice always telling me she loves me while I work, I thought of the next best thing… sign language.

In one of Mila’s dance songs, they sign ‘I love you,’ but a little reminder didn’t hurt.

After I got those first three pictures, she wanted to take more. So, so obviously I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of her.

Anyways, I found a perfect, Instax picture frame on Amazon! It’s pretty sturdy. The only issue I had with it was I had to tape the pictures in to stay, but that wasn’t a big deal.

Once I put it all together, it turned out so beautiful.

If you have more than one child, this frame also has a six opening frame too.

I think this would be an amazing gift to parents, grandparents, or anyone your child loves. It didn’t take too long to do either.

Your child will love seeing their pictures instantly and will be happy to give this as a present.

I hope if you decide to make this Valentine’s Day gift, you’ll let me know in the comments below.

The Greatest Gift.

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If I could ask for anything for my birthday, and every single day, I’d ask for you.

For my birthday, I wish I could be counting your toes. I wish I could have taught you how to walk and then I’d see your footprints all the time. I’d have to wipe them up each day, but every night they’d grow just a little big bigger. In this lifetime, your feet will forever be this big. Even though they were just little, baby feet you continue to leave a huge footprint on my life and this earth.

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This is one of my favorite pictures of your perfect feet. Your ten little toes, that look just like mine. All those perfect creases make such a unique print. Every single part of you as beautiful as the last. I’ll forever be longing to see you using these perfect pair of feet. You are the greatest gift I’ve ever had.

Jensen Grey, I’m wishing for you today and all the days of my life.