"Always kiss me goodnight...."
There are endless rhymes, jingles, and songs out there for our little ones and I will admit that I knew none of them before he was born. Well, that's a little exaggeration. However, I could probably count them on one hand. This was not a good situation, especially since one included John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. If you are familiar with that song, then you know that it can get annoying very quickly...just ask my mom. My poor husband had to listen to me worry all the time about how I was going to sing lullabies to my son and get him to go to sleep when I don't know any!
So I put those research skills from college to use and started finding some books. But still, if you are trying to rock your baby to sleep, hold the book, and sing...it just doesn't work. My solution was to make some wall art with the lullabies or rhymes on them. But of course, who has time when you have a newborn? I finally got around to the project (he's now approaching 2) and decided to use a prayer that I found and have always liked. The saying goes:
"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corner to my bed,
Four angels 'round my head.
One to watch and one to pray,
And two to guide me through the day."
This was sorta an 'accidental' project so there are a few things I would consider changing that I will share with you when we approach them. Here we go...
MATERIALS:
Canvas
Paint
Foam paint brush
Cricut cut letters or stickers
Ribbon
Embellishments
Glue, Scissors
HOW-TO:
1. Start by painting your canvas. I started with a light blue, then added some depth with a little green and darker blue. I just blended them here and there until I found a combo that worked for me.
2. Cut out letters with Cricut machine or use stickers. I measured the canvas and counted out the letters in each line to make sure I chose the right size letters to use.
3. Lay out the letters on the canvas. Start gluing once they are in place. I used the Martha Stewart Extra Fine glue pen. It worked great.
4. Add any embellishments you would like. I cut out a cross and glued a brown bead to the center and then glued to the corner
5. Glue (I used glue gun) the ribbon around the canvas.
6. Cut two strips of ribbon to your desired length to use to hang. Its always better to go long and then cut them. Glue to the back of the canvas. Then bring the two pieces of ribbon together to tie a bow. Cut any excess ribbon off.
You're done! Here are the things I would change.... First, I would have chosen a larger canvas. I wish I could give you the exact size I used, but my son is in bed and its hanging above him. To estimate..I would say it was about 23in in width and about 15 in height. Second, with the larger canvas I could have used larger letters. I alternated different papers to use, but when the letters are so thin its hard to see the difference. With a larger canvas this would have solved it. If this is the size canvas you want to use and are using the Cricut to cut out the letters then I might have chosen to use just one color paper instead of different patterns like I did. But of course, I'm here just to spark some ideas and you get to do what you want!
One more thing...I never really did learn a large repertoire of lullabies and such. One of God's greatest gifts about kids is that they don't know the difference and just enjoy hearing your voice. I just made up my own songs and rhymes and it worked just fine. So if you were in the same boat as me..don't fret! You'll use your creativity and be just fine!
Be inspired, get creative, and have fun!
Recent Comments