Getting Crafty

Over the course of the last year, thanks to Pinterest and several of the blogs I read, I've tried a variety of new crafting projects. While I have always enjoyed making things when I have time, I never really gave myself time to do a lot of projects and explore the tools I have to create beautiful keepsakes for my children, and more recently, to sell at craft fairs. I never thought, though I'd always had the desire, that I'd be at a point in time where I was actually selling some of the things I make.

One of my favorite projects, that I actually did over the summer but hadn't gotten around to blogging about yet, was an affirmation canvas for Maggie's room.

It makes me happy to think that over time Maggie will grow up seeing these positives statements about herself every day. Even if she's not really looking at it, the canvas will be there and some part of her will be absorbing it's message. It is so important to me that my children never question how loved they are, their value in this world, and their own self-worth. I know there will be times that they will falter in believing in themselves completely, but I hope that a small part of their brain will always be telling them, you are loved, you are loved, you are loved..

I'm not that handy of a blogger that I took step by step pictures of the process, but I assure you it's fairly simple. I bought a canvas from Michael's, cut out the letters on my Cricut in vinyl so that they would adhere to the canvas and then painted the whole thing purple. When it was completely dry I peeled the letters off and the color underneath showed through. I got the idea from Shannon at Bless Our Nest. She is amazingly crafty and had done a bible verse for her son's room. If you don't have a cutting machine, you can also use letter stickers and spell out whatever you want the canvas to say. I still haven't actually put the canvas up on the wall in Maggie's room. I think when I do, I will probably use a ribbon to bring in another color. For now it is resting against the wall on her bureau. As soon as I have a free moment (I'm guessing post kitchen renovation), I will be making them for the boys as well.