A pet that's a rock...

A pet that's a rock, a rock that's a pet... either way, it's a fine thing to have!

When our mommies club decided to exchange Valentines this year, I thought about what cute, crafty thing I could do.  (Because I can't just buy some at the store, I would have to give up my Martha badge.)  I thought it would be fun for Claire to give something that she really loves.  My first thought was, of course, dinosaurs.  But there's something she loves more than that...

Rocks and sticks.  The very first thing she does when she goes outside is find a rock and a stick.  Even in our family pictures, she's holding rocks and sticks.  (You can't see the rocks, they're in her pockets.)

I did a search online and found Valentines with glow sticks, and Valentines with pop rocks, but glow sticks and pop rocks are not what she loves.  She loves plain ole rocks and sticks.  So we headed out, armed with a basket and a toilet paper tube, on an adventure to the local rock yard.

She collected about ten rocks before we had a minor meltdown (which I never did discover the reason for.)  I hurriedly collected ten more and then we went to the office to pay.  The guy looked up, gave my little basket the side-eye and waved me off with a "Have a good day..." 

So we took our free rocks home and gave them a good scrubbing and a little personality with a paint pen.  This link has a good reference sheet for all kinds of cute faces, but I chose to keep it simple (lest my lack of artistic talent cause us to have to go back to the rock yard.)

I made the labels with elements from several different digital scrapbooking kits by Kate Hadfield.

Claire loves hers... she keeps pointing at it, saying "Eye.... noooo (nose), and mouu (mouth)."  Right now it's traveling around in her baby stroller with a stuffed dog friend.  :-)

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Credits:
Prehistoric, Walk in the Woods and Springity Spring by Kate Hadfield
Fonts:  Sketchbook and Return to Sender.