I don't know about you, but whenever one or more of my children gets invited to a friend's birthday party, I never seem to have a problem thinking up handmade gift-ideas for little girls, no matter the age. But when it comes to little boys, once they're past the baby/toddler stage, it gets increasingly difficult to think of handmade gift ideas. So this week, as we approached today's party for my son's friend's party, a little boy turning 5 years old - a little boy who is ALL STAR-WARS these days, I had NO IDEA what to make. His mom suggested a Star Wars pillow case...but I had no Star Wars fabric on hand, and really no money to go get any at the moment...so I wanted to come up with an idea using things I had on hand.
I started brainstorming with my OWN 5 year old son what things he really likes to do...and we came up with the fact that he really enjoys playing games. So as I was laying in bed Thursday night, about to fall asleep, this idea came to me (and remember how I said I'm NOT one of those creative people who has to keep a notebook by my bedside to write down ideas? Yeah - now I am!). Anyway, I jotted it down before I drifted into never-never land, so that I wouldn't forget, and on Friday, Anthony and I made it a reality.
It was SUPER EASY. I took a piece of 12x12 canvas (or duck cloth - whatever they call it in YOUR fabric store), and serged the edges so they won't fray. Meanwhile, I sent my son out to our back yard (which is unfinished) to find rocks, while I painted tic-tac-toe lines on the canvas, using regular acrylic craft paint. While that dried, my son and I went through the rocks and picked the ones that were relatively close in size and had at least one flat-enough side so that we'd be able to paint an X or O on it.
We washed the rocks, dried them thoroughly, and let them dry in the sun for a little while. Meanwhile, I found a cloth, drawstring bag (have no idea what it came from), and used foam stamps with white acrylic paint to stamp, "Boys will be boys" on one side, and the child's name on the other side. Once the rocks had dried, Anthony helped me paint the X's and O's on them. He loved that it was something he could actually help with.
After it was all finished, we put the rocks in the bag, rolled up the canvas and added it to the bag, and pulled the drawstring closed. I made a "card" using a shipping tag and distress inks and added it to the outside of the bag (wish I would've taken a pic of that). Anthony LOVED how it all turned out - he asked me, "So when do you think I could get a gift like this??" I said, "Well, maybe for Christmas!" He thought for a minute, and then said, "Well...which wrapping paper will it be in?" LOL
2 comments:
I think this is a great idea for a 5 year old. My nephew just turned five and he loves to play tic-tac-toe (and hates losing, too!). Plus, I think that someone actually gave him version similar to this for his birthday. I've seen a quilted type version, too, that makes use of chalkboard cloth.
Great idea!
I did consider doing a sewn version...but I was tired after homeschooling that morning, and was running out of time. Plus, I really wanted Anthony to be able to help with it, and there wasn't a lot he'd have been able to do if I had sewn it instead...so I took the easy way out - and did the rocks and canvas instead! LOL
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