Life is not about perfect...crafting with my daughter

Courtesy of Infarrantly Creative

I decided that this craft project was so adorable (and inexpensive) that I just had to replicate it. I saw it on the DIYshowoff but it comes from this blog, infarrantlycreative.net.

This was a lesson for me in patience and how to let things go. I have a tendency to be anal retentive, demanding perfection and can get easily frustrated when I don't get this (I'm working on it). Here's where the lesson comes in- I had my daughter work on this craft with me. In the end I could have spent more money and had it turn out TONS nicer but it was just crafting with my daughter. It wasn't perfect, and, if I'd wanted perfect, I shouldn't have asked an 11 year old to help paint itty-bitty stencils on a board.

By the end of the project I was biting my tongue pretty hard and trying not to be too irritated that, well, it wasn't the "prettiest" advent calendar out there.However, it was something that my daughter and I worked on together and that's really what it's all about- making memories and spending quality time together. With all it's imperfection it was perfect.

Here are the modifications I made to make this craft a 3.00 project with my dear daughter (DD).

First, I purchased 1 can red spray paint, 1 foam poster board, and 1 package of stencils from the dollar store(3.00 total here). Though I don't count them toward the craft total I did also have to purchase Hershey's kisses, something I would have done anyway.

Then, I gathered my supplies:

I used an old picture frame given to me by my mother-in-law which I loved but hadn't had any use for yet.

I took the picture and glass out leaving just the frame and cut the foam board to fit:

 Then I spray painted the board red:

 And after much debate with DD about how we should arrange the kisses/wording we stenciled on our words/calendar numbers.

It took awhile to paint them in and really, stickers would have been quicker, neater, and nicer looking. But we were going for inexpensive here. So, we had a few hiccups along the way. So, what?

After all the stenciling was done I just hot glued the chocolate kisses directly above each number.

You can see in the above pic where there were a few mess ups but all in all, (breathe, just breathe) I got through them without yelling at DD (even though she did feel pretty bad about messing it up). Still, it was fun to work on it with her and really, in the grand scheme who cares if it isn't perfect? It's a moopoint. To quote Joey, from friends, "Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." (this is what I think of everytime I hear or say the phrase "moot point").

So, this was my lesson in letting it go. I think I did pretty good but could have done better I'm sure. I'll get there eventually.