We left Tara at Bob's aunt's place together with my in-laws so I had an undisturbed afternoon churning out the gifts.
And to thank the teachers for their care and patience, and for being such good influences to my little one, I decided to make something "special" for them. I made personalised note books for each of the teachers and a photo frame each for the aunties. In the notebook, I included a little greeting to them, and added a cute bookmark as well. And since the gifts should be rightfully be from Tara, I left 5% uncompleted so that Tara can do her part in making the gifts as well. I mean, I can't be the one doing everything, right?
On Sunday night, after we came back from dinner, I told Tara that there are some things she need to do. And from the little task of tearing photo borders which I gave her just the day before, the little one was of course, enthusiastic. I put on her craft apron for her, lined the study table with newspaper and sat her right beside me to do some painting. Yeah, painting! I gave her unfinished chipboard alphabet to paint and she had to paste the alphas onto the notebook cover after that.
I don't know what I'm in for, since I've never gave her anything to paint before. And painting can be very messy.
She was initially quite happy with the painting, as she gets to choose the colours, although I did limit her choices. She wanted a bigger paint brush but I told her a small one will do the job. After a while, she lose interest in painting. I guess she must have preferred to dawdle. Anyhow, she completed her task without much fuss. When the paint had dried, I got her to apply the tape glue on the back of the alpha and paste it onto the notebook cover. I didn't guide her much on this, and she simply plopped the alpha and pressed it down. Although the alphas were not very much in the position I wanted, since the perfectionist (only applicable in craft work) in me preferred them straighter and a little centralised. Anyhow, I kind of felt that it's these little imperfections that makes it much perfect. And I can truly said she did that herself!
I wanted her to write her name herself too. Guess I'm asking for too much. So after trying in vain of getting her to trace over my writing, I resort to just holding her hand to write. Her chinese name was the hardest part, I don't think it's even eligible!
To reward her for completing the gifts, I gave her a chance to have fun with my acrylic paints, and she definitely look happier; mixing the colours, doodling and making a mess. She even threw the paint brush aside and made palm prints instead. Definitely a faster way to make more mess!
Okay, pictures:
And these are what we have completed!
The notebooks.
The simple bookmark.
And a short greeting for the teachers, signed by Tara (with help from Mummy)
I've definitely had a fun time doing the gifts and being able to get Tara involved makes it even enjoyable! I have yet to finished the photo frames for the aunties, still wondering how to personalised them. I will definitely post them up once it's done!
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