No work, all crafts

Created with wooden letters, scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Acrylic on canvas.

During a recent five-day vacation I vowed to make the most of it by spending quality time with Sophia and getting long-awaited chores crossed off the list. This was my longest time off of work since my maternity leave and I certainly did enjoy the time with Sophia.

We went on an outing to the library, which consisted of her pulling as many board books out of the library cart as possible.

We had a day at the park with lunch, time on the swing and fun touching and trying to taste all the woodchips. And I did several crafts. Mostly she watched but I made her feel involved by letting her touch some other safe supply crafts like foam paper and construction paper.

I had been wanting to make Sophia something special for her birthday. For a while I pondered what I could do and I came up with the idea to do a decorative piece for her room that she could still appreciate when she got older.

I decided decorating some wooden letters that spell her name would be easy and fun. I set out to Michaels on Saturday with my 25 percent off my entire purchase coupon with that idea in mind. After picking up the supplies I needed I spotted a 48- by 24-inch stretch canvas against the wall. I thought it seemed perfect to do a large painting of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I have dabbled with oil and acrylic paints and thought a painting of the famous Eric Carle caterpillar would be somewhat simple as his style is to broad, collage-like paint strokes. I thought about it for some time and explored the paint colors, too.

Finally, I thought the idea was silly and that the painting wouldn't come out so great.
So I went home content with my Mod Podge project.

I got a good start on the project that Saturday and continued it Sunday morning. Later Sunday when I browsed the sales ads, the same large canvas I had looked at was on sale for 50 percent off.
Anthony convinced me to give it a try. So back to Michaels I went to buy the canvas. I came home put on some music and got to painting and was surprisingly pleased with the result.

Sophia does seem to notice it on the wall since we've hung it in her playroom area. It's my first birthday present of sorts for her. It's one of the books we read most to her and I book I always enjoyed as a child. To top off the painting I wrote a message on the back.

It says: To my growing Sophia on her first birthday. Love, Mom.
I plan to let her discover that message on her own when she's older.

Perhaps, she'll find it if she ever asks for the painting to hang in her own room, or maybe not until she takes the painting with her when she moves on her own.