Yesterday was Father's Day here in Guate and my husband got the day off, but we celebrated Father's Day on Sunday... yesterday was just an added bonus day! I am more accustomed to the third Sunday in June date than the June 17th one but really, I just couldn´t wait one more day to give my husband his present. This is his first official Father's Day and Hannah's as well because last year on this date she was still in my tummy.
I enlisted my best friend to go shopping with me because she is more interested and gifted in all things creative and I knew she would give me some great ideas. Last Thursday we went to our local craft store and walked the isles for about an hour or so trying to find inspiration and the right supplies. I knew I wanted to make a hand print and footprint because I have recently gotten into the whole Pinterest craze (yes, I know I am behind the times but I didn´t even have reliable Internet service until I started this blog and my sister came to my rescue) and have come across several hand and feet prints by other mothers and I think they're the cutest way to remember how tiny our babies were. I gave my BF the initial idea but knew it would blossom in her mind, and slowly but surely it did and then it was just a matter of gathering the different materials I would need to make the print. We bought canvas, acrylic paint, a piece of plywood, artificial flowers, glitter and Mod Podge and a lot of different little things like small colored cotton balls, and confetti stars and shapes to use for another craft project I was inspired to make by Pinterest. That is the beauty of Pinterest, sharing ideas and being inspired by others.
My baby girl (a small tear gathers in my eye as I think she is now more toddler than baby) loves plastic bottles, no the word loves isn´t enough... she´s obsessed! While browsing the Pinterest world I saw a craft project for re purposing used plastic water bottles. You fill them with a bunch of interesting things like letter beads, colored beads, confetti, glitter, etc. Then they become an even more interesting object to play with. Side note: I am laughing out loud because I have started to use the Dragon Dictation app as an easy way of writing the drafts for my blogs. It doesn't require hands and I can "speak/write" while playing with Hannah. The funny thing is that some of the words I say are translated into funny text by the app: for example, "Pinterest" became "PE Terrace" and also "peeing terrorist", so I guess that means I need to work on my enunciation. Another reason I like using the app is that it gives me an excuse to speak English. Since my sister moved back to Houston, I don't have anyone to practice speaking English with and seeing as how I spend all of my days speaking Spanish, my English gets really rusty. This is a way for me to practice my speaking skills so that Hannah learns English as accent-free as possible.
Anyway, I got home late on Thursday because after our craft supplies shopping trip we went for coffee and chitchat so I didn´t get anything done. On Friday, as soon as Hannah went down for her morning nap I scurried around getting all the materials together and setting up our work area so that as soon as she woke up we could get started on the present. My husband comes home for lunch most days, so I had a small window for us to get as much done as possible. When she awoke, I took off her socks and proceeded to cover the bottoms of her tiny feet with red acrylic paint. I had to get the footprints in a heart shape and the hand print on the same piece of canvas that I was gonna use to wrap around a the piece of plywood I bought. On our first attempt the footprints were smeared because Hannah loves to curl in her toes, scratch that piece of canvas and onto attempt no. 2. The footprints in a great heart shape, check, but the hand print smeared. Around this time her face, legs, arms and bodysuit were covered with red acrylic paint, but I didn't want to give up. Third time´s the charm and, sure enough, on this attempt the footprints came out in a perfect heart shape even if the toes on the right foot were a bit smeared and the hand print was just right and only slightly smeared, Success! Of course, she was completely covered in paint from her hair down to her toes and my pajama was too.
That´s what I get for not using an apron or old clothing, which sounds like common sense, but I was too busy trying to get the first part done before my husband came home to remember to change clothing. I gave my little girl a mini bath as quickly as possible because it was about a half hour before my husband would get home. I changed clothes and off I went to wash the bodysuit and my pajama but I couldn't get the red acrylic paint off so I left it soaking in some detergent and Vanish, but that didn't get the paint out either. Pinterest came to the rescue because I found on a pin about a tip for using alcohol to get acrylic paint off of clothing, even after they´ve been washed and dried. I'm going to try the tip to rescue Hannah's bodysuit and my PJs and see if it actually works. Once the hand and foot prints were dried, I glued the canvas onto the piece of plywood with Mod Podge and was able to get the two "A"s in Hannah´s name down with the red acrylic paint and the rest I finished between Friday night (thankfully my hubby went out with friends) and Saturday morning. I must say that I am extremely proud of myself for getting this done. The best part is that this was the first craft project I have ever done on my own that came out as good as this one did! Props to Me and to Hannah! Hopefully by next Father´s Day she will be a more helpful "partner in crime".
P.S.: Daddy loved his gift and he remembered to write on the back of the plywood the date and the occasion because, Duh!... I forgot to do that, but his writing is definitely nicer than mine so it was a fortunate oversight. The plastic bottle toys were also quite a hit with my baby! Make your own!
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