Kids grow up so fast. I feel like I'm an "expert" at saying that now, since I've been blessed with three of them. Many parents save little trinkets of their kiddo's youth (mainly from the baby and toddler days) like a lock of hair or a special outfit. Come to find out many people (even myself) have saved their child's first pair of
Monkey Toes. When recently clearing out my office I found a box of mementos from years past and one being a pair of Ella's first hand painted Ladybug shoes. She was about 9 months old (she's 9 years old now) when I started Monkey Toes - I just dated myself.
She obviously crawled in these - look at the toes on them (plus they were still hand painted back then), but the thing I love the most is that I didn't have to jog my memory (mainly because three kids has diminished any memory I used to have), to think of whose shoes these were. I had personalized them. Such an easy thing to do, but so cute and so sweet - and I swear my girls are so proud of "their" shoes.
I have finally gotten around to personalizing Oscar's shoes for winter.. Of course we went with
Shivers the Snowman - though he has his pick of an endless supply of shoes, he will be wearing these all winter long.
For example sake, I tried two different ways of personalizing. I think I like Oscar's name spelled out with the year (on the left), but get creative! A large letter "O" on the side of the shoe would be adorable too. If I was personalizing a pair of girl shoes, I'd probably add dots to the tips of each letter to soften them a bit, but plain and simple goes pretty well for boys.
My favorite markers to use for personalizing are Pigma Micron pens (found at Hobby Lobby / Michaels) - this one happens to be pretty fine at .020 mm. It doesn't bleed on fabric, it's washable, and it's Acid-Free. As much as I *Heart* Sharpies - I do NOT recommend it for this project - they will bleed and it won't look very cute. Trust me, I've painted a LOT of shoes and worked with them a ton, I just use them on other projects.
This is an easy and fun way to personalize a gift for the holidays too! They'll always remember who gave them their first pair of Monkey Toes with their name on them.
I hope that one day when I hand over all the little shoes I've saved up (there will be a lot I'm sure), maybe they'll hand them down to their kids - or even display them in their baby's room.
What have you saved from your kids?
She obviously crawled in these - look at the toes on them (plus they were still hand painted back then), but the thing I love the most is that I didn't have to jog my memory (mainly because three kids has diminished any memory I used to have), to think of whose shoes these were. I had personalized them. Such an easy thing to do, but so cute and so sweet - and I swear my girls are so proud of "their" shoes. 
1 comment:
Maybe I felt we 'had' to save them as parents, but I saved my kiddo's baby teeth. Why? I recently found them in separate baggies tucked inside my jewelry box and, gasp, I threw them away. Didn't want my littlest ones to find them and ask me questions about the Tooth Fairy. What would I have done with them?
Good tip on the Micron pens. Never heard of them. Will stock up. Sharpies do bleed. Thanks.
I do like saving their first pairs of shoes. Love those tiny things.
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