Guest Blogger Sunday {Rub Some Dirt On It}

Welcome to another guest blogging Sunday!! This is another one of those crafts that you just want to get up, run out and gather the supplies and make them.

Right. Now.

So fun! And I can make these for my class next year!

Becky, take it away!!!

~.~.~.~.~

Hello! I’m Becky, writer of “Rub Some Dirt On It,” a blog about my family and photography.

My husband and I lived and loved in California, but then decided to move back to New England,

to Vermont of all places, to raise a family. My blog helped ease that transition. Now I am a city

mouse, living in the country, writing to keep the rust off what used to be a pretty useful brain and

documenting my children as they grow.

We have two beautiful babies (Jax, two and a half, and Em, one year) who make the fact that we

live in the middle of nowhere exciting because I have to make something of each day, instead

of having it hand-delivered. We have acres and acres to explore and I am lucky enough to stay

home. I get to be home with them, take photos, and write. Before I had kids I was a teacher, but

now I get to be home with my babies and teach them instead. So although I complain that we

live in rural Vermont, I try to make the best out of what really is a great situation.

My blog, like myself, has grown and transformed since Jax has been born, and exponentially

since Em came along. I do more crafts and make an effort to get outside with them, even in

the winter. We read endless amounts of books and I love to share them. I have woven a great

network of mommy girlfriends who helped shape the person I am now, from being there for

coffee to being my personal lactation consultants. Being a mom has forced me out of my

comfort zone, but in such a fulfilling way. I love living this life. I love photographing it. I love

writing about it. And I love sharing all of those things with you. I welcome you into our lives

and hope you enjoy growing with us. We try to make the most of every day and I hope it shows.

Since you don't know me that well, I'll fill you on a little secret: I am not naturally crafty.
My crafty side has great intentions but seems to sabotage itself every now and then.
I don't put a lot of forethought into my crafts; I tend to be spontaneous.  Therefore, all
my crafts have to be worth the effort.  I found a craft the other day at Gluesticks and just had to give it a try.  It looked
completely manageable and her daughter's pleasure was enviable.  Wooden peg dolls!  I
wanted my kids to play happily with homemade wooden dolls, too!

So I went to JoAnn Fabrics and bought these little wooden peg dolls and cups in their unfinished wood
section.  Cost me less than ten bucks.

Then, I just straight up copied what the mom from Gluesticks did, because although I have great
intentions, I don't have many artistic bones in my body.  So since hers looked super cute, I figured
I'd just follow in her artsy footprints.

Things to consider:  What type of paint to use?  Well,
how old are your kids?  I had a ton of fingerpaint at home, so that's what I decided to go
with.  I knew it was Crayola non-toxic so it would be no big deal during the painting process
or if my one-year-old daughter Em decided to use one as a teether.  Gluesticks mom Brandy has
a toddler, not a baby, so she used acryllic paint and a spray paint layer to seal it all up.  I asked
about such spray paints at JoAnns, and they weren't too keen on the idea of letting a baby suck on
wooden dolls shellacked in spray paint (neither was I, obviously), so I just decided it would be worth
it to make sure that the dolls were mouth-friendly in case they did make their way into Em's mouth
(which they inevitably would and already have).  This caused her mouth to turn green and washed
away a bit of the paint.  Solution?  None yet, but I'll just try to keep them away from her;
otherwise I'll be repainting them after she sucks the fingerpaint off.  For me, better than worrying
that Jax may accidentally share one with her, especially since I'm always begging him to share with her
anyway.  Too much to think about and mixed signals.  Keep it simple.

So I went with fingerpaint.  Maybe not the best solution, but it is what it is.  Fingerpaint
doesn't go on as smoothly as other types of paint, so be prepared to do a few coats if you are going for
craftaliciousness.  I just go for get 'er done and let's paint the darn things.

Something else to consider:
Should you let your toddler help you paint them?  The easy answer is Yes!  Let them
experiment with all things artsy and beautiful!  The other easy answer is Heck no!
  Are you insane?  I think my current answer to that question is yes, let them
paint one cup and then make sure you have a spouse, friend, or family member around to haul
them straight to the tub because they will be a freakin mess. 

Crafting with friends (and
cocktails) is always more fun, anyway.  And you will want to keep painting since you went to
all the effort to get all the stuff together and ready, so best be able to hand the kids off to someone else
when they look like this:

 

Proud but filthy.  That is why I did this in the lull between dinner and bedtime.  He was
getting in the bath anyway, so no extra work for the parents.

Okay, so kids are now in bed.  You can now focus and actually finish this darn thing, which has
become more work than you realized you were signing up for.

This may seem obvious to you, but it wasn't to me so I'll just tell you which way I found to be the
simplest to paint these.  Stick a finger in, paint the bottom and sides, then top, then inside last
from above.  That way you won't have to touch parts that have already been painted.
Probably pretty obvious, but it took me three cups to figure that one out.  I'll just save you the
trouble.

Then you can paint the dolls however you'd like.  Save yourself the trouble of painting their faces
and just let their faces be wood-colored.  I used colored pencils to draw the face and a few blobs
of brown paint for the hair.And viola!

Eight new friends with eight little homes.

I finished them that night and Jax was psyched to find them on the kitchen table the next
morning.  He said, "Our dollies!" and then "They are so cool!"  Wow, he's getting
big.

But not too big for dollies!

So final consensus is that this was the messiest and most labor-intensive craft I've done yet (meaning
it just took the longest, but mostly because I had cheap paint and paintbrushes and because I did
multiple layers of paint and the dots).  Probably could have been quicker if I didn't let Jax help
or if I was more truly crafty, but my slightly disfunctional craftiness makes it fun and I'm glad Jax got to
help.  I'm doing this for them, not me, anyway.

I say give it a try, and please let me know how it goes if you do!  I think this would be a lovely
gift for a holiday or birthday--Jax loves playing with them at the table while I prepare his lunch or
dinner.  And he is definitely not a dollie kind of guy.  He really just loves sorting
them and putting them in and out of their homes.  I think any kid would really like them and they
are definitely worth the effort!