DIY - For Sophie- Love Auntie

 It's a complete miracle! Not only did I attempt a DIY ... I succeeded in completing and creating something that I had originally thought up in my mind! A bloody miracle!!!

 I wanted to create something special for my niece Sophie. She is a little spit fire of sass and a total goofy gus. We all just met her this August and I fell in love with her even more. She is a little red head that reminds me of her mom, my best bud and sister.

This is a picture my sister put up on Facebook this weekend. This is Sopha in a nutshell...!

 I have been itching to make something since I rejoined Pinterest months ago. My sister in law Erin is a DIY machine of a human being. I wish I had photos of some of the masterpieces she's created over the last year. She is the one who has been inspiring me to make something. I thought up the idea a couple of weeks ago and then this Friday (BLACK FRIDAY- duh.) I ventured out into the city, to the mall to buy my supplies.

 We went to Michaels for my craft supplies. Rob likes to refer to it as "Geekles" and I corrected him and said that "Nerdles" is much, much funnier. Whatever Rob! I like to craft okay!!!? I was telling Erin on Friday that I would love to craft more, but that I don't have the space.

Me: "I wish I could do more but I just don't have the space around here. I would just love to be able to get my Harry Potter box full of crafts out, colour and draw my caricature birthday and Christmas cards and just leave my supplies lying around." 

 Rob so graciously added that what I had said was simply the nerdiest thing he had heard in a long time. Whatever Rob! I like to craft and have a Harry Potter box that I keep my crafts in, okay!? (I ordered my hard cover Harry Potter books from Amazon like a zillion years ago and they came in this really "cool" Harry Potter box. I had to save it.)

What you will need to craft a personalized jewellery box for a toddler:
( I say it's for a toddler because it's a pretty amateur job. I'm not sure if a teenager or an adult would want something like this. So be easy on me.)

//1 ** Pictures! I ended up ordering some pictures of Sophie, Alina and I the day before. So the idea is to find a theme for the jewellery box. Mine is "The Shea's". My middle name is Shea and Ky named Sophie after me and I named Alina after me as well. I have always liked my middle name and wanted to keep it in my family. (Pronounced Shay)

//2   A wooden jewellery box. I purchased this box at Michael's for $9. I found some smaller ones at a garage sale last weekend. I bought those for .50 so it all depends on where you go and what you're looking for. I didn't end up using the smaller box because the pictures I had were quite zoomed in.

//3  Appropriate brushes. I ended up buying a little cheap starter kit for my project. Luckily if you are already into crafting, you probably won't need to buy the brushes. Decoupage or Mod Podging requires a foamy kind of brush. (pictured above.)

//4  Paint. I bought a Pepto Bismol pink colour! It ended up looking alright but it was pretty pink. I bought brown paint to paint the little wooden hearts that I planned on attaching to the jewellery box. The wooden hearts can be found at Michael's as well. I bought a bag of assorted hearts from the garage sale that I went to last weekend.

//5 I noticed that one of the most important tools is not in the picture I posted. It's the Mod Podge glue or adhesive. It is what you apply on the back of the pictures and over the top.

** After reading articles on how to decoupage a picture onto a wooden surface I realized that I was supposed to print my pictures on High Quality Glossy Photo Paper. Oops, I didn't.. So I tested out the Mod Podge adhesive with another picture on another piece of wood and it appeared to work. Perhaps, for your best results print your pictures on the paper. 

 So I got started on painting the jewellery box. It was a Saturday night and I was listening to some music and I decided to make some Hot Spinach Dip (Will add recipe later) and so I was inspired to have a little drinky-poo along with the beer I was enjoying. What better way to craft and make a DIY project than a shot of Sambuca to warm your belly!? Yes, I'm a mom. Yes, I was alone, crafting and making spinach dip. No, I am not ashamed. For the record; Rob was in the living room watching hockey so I wasn't alone, alone. Oh hell, even if I was, I would have done it! It made the crafting that much more enjoyable. As you can see by my face, I haven't done a shot in awhile.

 I ended up painting the jewellery box and some of the hearts I wanted to use. I didn't tackle the decoupage part until the next day. I decided which pictures were going to go where and I added the adhesive to the back of the picture. It is important not to put too much on the back because it slips and slides a bit when you are decoupaging the front of the picture. Put your picture in place and with your sponge type brush, smooth a small coat of Mod Podge over your picture. I also had a pair of tweezers handy in case, like me, you bought cheap paint brushes and the bristles fell off in your paint. Remember it takes about twenty minutes for the Mod Podge to disappear. But it goes on streaky and white at first. I put two coats over my pictures. 

 It was an easy project to do because it didn't take very long at all. It took me two days but I was taking my time because I was enjoying myself so much. It could probably take two hours to do, uninterrupted. Oh and the Spinach Dip pictured was a-mazing. I really enjoyed eating most of it Saturday and a lot of it for lunch on Sunday. (Spinach is healthy.....!)

 I'm proud of myself for making something special for my girl Sophie. I think it's something she'll have forever. She can keep dirty rocks and leaves in there when she's five. Or she can keep her birth control and love letters in it when she's in her twenties. I know it's something that she will look at when she's older and she will know how much she is loved by her Auntie. Mission. Accomplished.