MOM.b.a. - Master's of my Baby Abilities: paper crafts

Showing posts with label paper crafts. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Nursery Inspiration

Like my toddler's room, my newborn's nursery was put together based on a lot of ideas I consolidated over time. Now that my daughter is here, and her gender is public knowledge, I can now share the results of the nursery. But first - the inspiration!

With Bugga, we were also in a rental (and very small) house. I knew we'd likely move shortly after she was born so I decorated one side of our guest room using some basic details. We chose to be surprised on the boy/girl topic, so I went with a green and white beach-y theme with surfing monkeys (of course) and various sea creatures.

Since we knew Bella would be a girl, somehow I started heading down the path of a very girlie design. If anyone knows me at all, you know that this isn't typically my style, but I just couldn't help being drawn to it. I'm not sure if it's because I was limited with the first nursery or not.

So here is where I started:

Color Pallette:

I was really gravitating toward white and a metallic/mirrored silver. And perhaps a pop of something else but I wasn't sure right away. I'm going to toss out the idea of pink, but I doubt I'll go that stereotypical.

Overall Look & Feel:

Classic. Warm. Feminine. I just love all of these examples and really wanted to go in this direction.

Wall Design:

I almost went with more stripes like I ended up doing in Bugga's room. I swear, stripes call to me. You should see my closet.

Wall Decor / Curtains:

I love the Baroque style of the frames and mirror.

I would love to add a whimsical "installation"-style detail like a group of butterflies.

A custom-made mobile over the crib would be adorable.

I love the style and color of this mirror.

I like the pop of color in the curtains, but I also like the pattern on the wall as an accent.

I always seem to sing this to my daughter...so sweet!

Girl power! And a little Shakespeare.

Furniture / Accessories:

The new nursery will use the same crib I had in Bugga's room, and I will order another white dresser. I'll also move the glider from Bugga's room to the nursery and probably add a bookshelf to display little details and store books and toys.

These are super sweet and would be a nice detail in a nursery.

I guess basically I'm going for a classic feel for the room and I am surprised how I excited I am to go this route. The room itself has a tan carpet and off-white walls, so the all-white look won't be happening, and my glider (which I am not recovering) is a tan color.

Again, I am limited with what I can order in Canada, and I hope to make a lot of the little details myself.

Click here to see how everything turned out!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Toddler Project: Spring Tissue Paper Duck

I've been scrounging Pinterest for toddler-appropriate Easter and Spring crafts. Have I mentioned my apprehension with glue and my 2-year-old? I think she's not quite ready for that responsibility yet. But I still want her to get in on the crafting fun as much as she can. She has already had enough experience that she is quick to eagerly ask me, "Are you making me a project?" every time I go near my craft shelves. Yep, no question she is my kid.

Incidentally, here was some dialog during our project:
Me: "What does a duck say?"
Bugga: "Quack! What does a duckie say?"
Me: "I don't know, what does a duckie say?"
Bugga: "SQUEAK!"
Can't argue with that.

Tissue Paper Duck for Spring

Our first easy project required the following items:

thick craft paper
scissors
yellow, orange and black tissue paper
contact paper

Draw a duck shape on the craft paper. You can find images online, but I just eye-balled it. Cut out the duck.
Cut your tissue paper into small pieces. Ask your toddler to help crumple each piece into a teeny, tiny ball.
Add contact paper behind your duck cut-out, sticky side up.
Start sticking the tissue paper to the contact paper.
Show off your finished product!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Toddler-Friendly Gift Tags

Now that Bugga just turned 2, it was perfect timing to teach her that Christmas is even more about the giving than the receiving. She definitely sees the fun in unwrapping a present and finding a fun surprise inside, but this year we wanted to focus on the GIVING.

I thought it would be great, and very easy, to have Bugga play our Christmas Morning Elf and hand out everyone's presents. However, she obviously can't read yet, so we needed a way to help her identify the presents.

I created these Toddler-Friendly Gift Tags that are more visual, so that it is easy for a 2-year-old to identify who to deliver the gift too. It worked really well and she clearly enjoyed being a part of the giving.

I wasn't very timely with this post (birthing a Christmas baby and all) so I know this isn't something you are probably thinking about in January. However, if you like this idea, bookmark it for next year!

Here are the examples:

Friday, December 6, 2013

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Grocery Shopping

Quiet Books for Toddlers are truly genius ideas and are sure to be well worth your time! I created a no-sew version for my daughter that you can find here. Below is one of my page ideas. For other ideas, scroll to the list at the bottom of the post!

Grocery Shopping Page

This one just came to me when I was brainstorming ideas for pages my daughter would like. She is my Grocery Shopping Assistant, and she loves to play with all the fruits and vegetables in her play kitchen. I made it so you can still see the items when they are in the grocery cart (like in real life). I ended up using Velcro for holding down the cart, which turned out to be a good idea - it is easier to get the items out of the cart by just removing the cart itself.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Counting Train

Counting Train Page

I found a great counting train at And Then Comes L. And since Bugga is pretty much obsessed with trains (er, "choo-choo"s) AND just learned how to count to 10, this was a perfect fit.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Match Big & Small
Grocery Shopping

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Go Team!

Go Team! Page

This page is near and dear to our family's hearts - we are huge college sports fans! For undergrad, my husband went to Auburn, and I went to Georgia Tech. So of course there is a lot of emphasis on our school's mascots, football, and anything related...like this page! Obviously, your version can use any teams or sports that are important to you and your family!

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Page

After making the Let's Get Dressed page, I noticed on the same site that has the dress-up dolls (Babalisme) also has some Christmas-themed outfits for the dolls. With Christmas coming, it was perfect timing. I also added a Christmas Tree and decorations to prepare Bugga for her first year of helping out with our family tree.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Make A Face

Make A Face Page

While searching for clip art online I came across a lot of facial features, so I thought it would be fun to do a Potato-Head-style page where Bugga could make different faces. I actually ended up not using a lot of the accessories I created because I ran out of space on the two pages (head- and hair-pieces sucked up all my space!). If you want to use more than I have, make your face shape smaller so the accessories don't take over.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Page

I started this book right before Halloween, so I couldn't NOT have a jack-o-lantern page (I LOVE Halloween). I tried to keep this from being remotely scary, but I'm not quite sure if I succeeded? No complaints from Bugga anyhow.

(Sorry about the blurriness - I just noticed!)

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Apple Picking

Apple Picking Page

I found the idea for this page on Intentional By Grace. It's a pretty basic page, but is more like a game than some of the other pages I made. It is also great for counting and basic math, once your kiddo is ready.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Let's Get Dressed

Let's Get Dressed Page

I found a dress up page at Playing House. This is something new to my daughter so I renamed it "Let's Get Dressed", but I'm sure the dress up days are coming! The doll and clothing printables are available at Babalisme and they are super cute. There are a few different dolls available, and fortunately one had similar features to Bugga so I used that one specifically.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Match Colors

Match Colors Page

I found the idea for this page from Playing House. You can use a variety of shapes and sizes, but I have two pieces in each color to match to the colored squares.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Stop, Slow, Go!

Stop, Slow, Go! Page

I got the idea for this page from Playing House and Intentional By Grace. This is a very basic stoplight page that teaches what each of the colors mean - pretty self-explanatory!

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

My Name Is

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Match Big & Small

Match Big & Small Page

I found this page's idea on the blog Playing House. I made sure the only difference between the matches was the size so my daughter could focus on the task at hand.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - My Name Is

My Name Is Page

I got this idea from the bloga Playing House and Intentional By Grace. Bugga is at the perfect age to start learning about letters, and what is more important than the letters in her name?!?

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas:

Stop, Slow, Go
Match Colors

Go Team!
Match Shapes

Project: No-Sew Toddler Quiet Book Page Idea - Drive to School

Drive to School Page

The idea for the Drive to School page was inspired by a Car/Truck page I found at the blogs Teacher Mode and Intentional By Grace. In my version, your child can drive a car or a school bus from the house to school. I also included a little laminated "pocket" to tuck the vehicles in when they aren't in use so the don't get lost. You could also use a Matchbox-size car or something similar to have a more 3-D effect.

Other Quiet Book Page Ideas: