Father's Day Round-Up

"YIKES....BIKES!" 

10 points to the first person who can name that movie!

That's honestly the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw Adriane's cute Father's Day card. Is Father's Day seriously just days away? Contrary to what my dear Adriane assumed in her previous post, I am NOT prepared! We've had a few insane happenings around our house over the past few weeks, one of which involved me chopping the top 1/4 inch of my thumb off with a veggie slicer... and finding it later in a sink full of dishes... (Tell the truth, which word crossed your mind first- "Gross!" or "Ouch!" You can be honest, I won't judge. It was a toss up for me!)  Anyway, this lovely turn of events, among other things, has left me paddling along at about half my normal speed. So in hopes that something will spark a new fabulous idea, I've decided to share with you five projects I've done in the past that took very little $$ and prep, and turned out absolutely darling.

#1- "DADDY" Collage

I will never forget the look my husband's face when he pulled this out of the gift bag on Father's Day. His eyes welled up with tears, he pulled our girls close to him, and just sat there with a smile on his face, studying the pictures that so beautifully sum up the kind of incredible father he is.

It was pretty easy to put together. I bought a matte and a panoramic frame from Michaels with my handy dandy 50% off coupon. Then I found a font I liked on the computer and typed up the letters "D", "A", and "Y", and used them as stencils to cut the word "DADDY" out of the matte. Then I printed off  some pictures and stuck them behind the stencil. Don't be afraid to crop your pictures differently.

#2- Picasso Tie

This is SO easy and ridiculously fun. 

Step One: Find an old tie (Or, for those of you whose middle name is Martha Stewart, make one.)

Step Two: Let your kids get in touch with their inner Picasso...

Step Three: Turn the tie over and write a little love note on the back

Step Four: Wrap up the finished product and force Dad to wear it to church. Teeheehee...

I helped Addie make this for her daddy when she was just 23 months old. I'm thinking it's time to revisit this gift now that I have multiple artists in the family. I don't think we truly tapped into the full cuteness potential this gift has to offer. Don't get me wrong- I love her scribbles, but just think of the kind of art you'd get out of your older children. I think I may do this one again. 

#3- I Wanna Be Like You Dad!

Last year my husband was just starting his student teaching for the LDS Seminary program, which we were all very excited about. So for Father's Day I took the girls outside and let them play dress-up in his "work clothes." The result was both hilarious and adorable. :)

 As you can see... this was a pretty low-key photo shoot. The end result was absolutely nothing like what I had pictured in my head... yet I love them all anyway! I printed off my favorites and put them in a collage frame along with a handwritten card from Addison about how much she wants to be "Just like Dad!"

which leads us to:

#4- Walking in Your Footsteps

This could really be done for any parental figure in a child's life: mom, dad, grandparent etc...

I sneakily snapped a picture of my daughter holding hands and walking with my dad. Then I added one of my favorite quotes- "Mommy and Daddy always tell me to walk in Jesus's footsteps. But I can't see Him... so I'm walking in yours." I wish I knew where the quote originally came from. If you know the original source let me know so I can give them credit. 

My dad absolutely loved this. He even made a copy so he could have one at home and one in his office. Along with the picture I wrote a letter to my Dad about how grateful I am that my children have him to look up to. He is such an incredible man- always so selfless and Christlike. I couldn't ask for a better example for me OR my kids. 

#5- Canvas Art 

Who here loves finger-painting!? 

ME! 

Honestly, I really do! It's such a thrill to smear paint all over a blank canvas with complete disregard to rules and order. There's no stress to stay within the lines! That's my kind of art!

All I did was mask off the letters with painter's tape and let my kids go to town. I'm sure you can imagine why there are no pictures of the process. If you are outnumbered by your children, and your kids are very young... I highly recommend grabbing another adult to help supervise this one. I still have teeny tiny blue foot prints running across the length of my back patio. I couldn't quite catch my baby before she ran right up and over the wet sign and just kept on going! 

Notice how these aren't perfect. I kind of love that about them. Proves they were homemade by little loving hands. :)

 As you've probably noticed, I actually did these for Mother's Day, not Father's Day. But I think you could use the idea for so many things: Mother's Day, Father's Day, Teacher appreciation gifts, Christmas...  I also think it would be cute to let your child make a one-of-a-kind masterpiece to hang in their bedroom. You could use letter stickers to write out a fun quote and then let them finger-paint away! This particular one was made for my Mother-In-Law's Home Office which is decorated in these colors. 

Well, there you have it folks! 5 easy ideas for Father's Day that you can whip up in no time! Now if I could just think of something new to do THIS year...