Painting DIY

Here at Dutch Country General Store, we love it when kiddos complete one of our Melissa & Doug craft projects and then share their experience with us. Follow along with us as Caroline and her mom take us on a “Crafting with Caroline” adventure while completing the Melissa & Doug Created By Me Sweet Keepsakes craft kit.

Dutch Country General Store is truly a family operation in our house because my husband, and Caroline’s dad, is on the floor working every day at the store. His co-workers and team members are awesome and know that I’m his wife and are always excited to see Caroline and me.

When we got to the store, Caroline headed straight for the ice cream machine, because that’s just what you do when you visit Dutch Country General Store - you help yourself to a free ice cream cone! It’s the Dutch Country way!

We checked out the toys downstairs, near the large buckets of candy, and we quickly headed upstairs. My daughter loves that the Bloomfield, Iowa location has two stories. We were on the hunt for a project that would allow Caroline to be creative and I knew Melissa & Doug would have something right up her alley.

Caroline considered a Scratch Art project and looked briefly at some sticker sets. In the end, she gave mom two options to help her choose - Melissa & Doug’s Created by Me! Cupcake Bank or Melissa & Doug Created by Me! Sweet Keepsakes.

She had talked about including Grandma in the craft session too and I knew Grandma would always be up for a little craft therapy with her only granddaughter. We chose the Sweet Keepsakes set since it had three crafts to decorate. That meant even mom could get in on the fun.

On the way home, Caroline read the details on the Sweet Keepsakes box - she loves to read. She was so excited that every single word on that box was read out loud the whole ride home.

Everything You Need

The Created by Me! craft set came with quite a lot of pieces to be creative, and Caroline was excited to get started.

The set comes with 3 paintbrushes, a set of paints, cute foil stickers, and glitter glue sticks. All three figurines are really adorable. We let Caroline pick which project she wanted and she chose the ice cream cone. She told me I can have the cake bank and Grandma got the cupcake with the cherry on top. 

Getting Messy

This girl loves getting messy - especially anytime she gets to paint. She loves to experiment and mix colors. As you can see, she got messy, had a ton of fun, and Grandma even pulled out her paints for more color combinations. 

A Fun Escape

Caroline even pretended to ‘eat’ her little keepsake ice cream cone when she was finished. 

It was a great afternoon and it was nice to “escape” with a fun project. Even though only for a short time, it was nice to have my daughter away from her devices and doing something tangible. As a mom to two children, I have trusted Melissa & Doug products since my son was just a toddler. We still have pieces of the Melissa & Doug Cutting Food laying around and in a toy boxes. 

We love our time at Dutch Country General Store. How can you beat free ice cream and free popcorn while you shop? We love their unique products, yummy treats, and our kiddos love their large selection of toys. Caroline is looking forward to organizing her collection of hair ties, tiny dolls, and coins into her completed Decorate Your Own - Sweets Set crafts.

Something For Everyone!

If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by and give them a visit. You’ll be glad you did! If you can’t come in person, you can shop online which offers a large majority of their in-store products. There’s something for everyone!