I’ll say it. I’m obsessed with all projects/crafts/gifts that include kids’ handprints. Alright, and those that involve footprints too. I can’t help myself. They’re just so sweet and having special pieces stamped with Miss G’s handprints means that I get to freeze time and always have a reminder of how little she once was.
With Mother’s Day only a few days away, I started thinking about some of the fun Mother’s / Father’s Day gifts kids tend to make in school year after year. The first project that came to mind? Clay pinch pots – a classic. I don’t know what exactly has made them the go-to gift for moms and dads, but my guess is that it’s their versatility. Dad needs a coin dish? Check. A safe spot to store his tie clip and cufflinks? Check. Mom needs a bowl to hold bobby pins and hair elastics? A special spot to store her rings at night? Check. Check. And that’s how this project came about. I {quite desperately} need a spot to keep my rings while not wearing them instead of my usual leaving them somewhere in our large apartment only misplace them and eventually find them a few days later. While we could have made just a regular pinch pot, we decided to try making a hand-shaped ring dish since I’m a little obsessed with handprint projects. Didn’t it turn out sweet?
Okay, I fully admit it… Between the yearly handprint canvas we did just a couple of months ago and the paper strip handprint art we did just a couple of days ago, we may be a teensy bit handprint obsessed. I can’t help it. I don’t know if it’s the Kindergarten teacher in me or the mama in me, but having these little handprints frozen in time just makes my heart happy.
These keepsakes are a favourite in our house. Miss G and I have made variations of this project many times in the past, some of which have become decor, some heartfelt gifts, and others Christmas tree ornaments.
No matter what they become in the end, we always make them out of our very favourite homemade baking soda clay. This stuff is a dream to work with and is super easy and inexpensive to make {plus you most likely have erything you need to make it in your kitchen at this very moment!}
How you decorate them is up to you, but we went with GLITTER this time around, which both Miss G and I loved. So pretty, right?! {Not to mention that it’s super forgiving when it comes to little cracks and imperfections along the edges of the keepsake… Add glitter and consider them gone!}
For all of the details of this project, as well as our simple baking soda clay recipe, pop on over to CBC Parents and check out our Baking Soda Clay Handprint Keepsakes post.
FYI: With the recipe in the link, we made our handprint keepsake, plus 20 small cookie cutter ornaments, which is probably equivalent to 3 or 4 handprint ornaments {depending on the size you make them of course}.
Admittedly, baking soda clay can be a little finicky sometimes… For tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years, click here.
While you’re at it, check out some of our other favourite handprint projects here.
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While we’re all set up in our new place with the day-to-day essentials, we’re still working on making our house feel like home. So far, Gracen’s room seems to feel the most homey, largely in part to the fact that it’s the only space in the house with anything on the walls. It’s still a work in progress, but we’ve framed several photos and a couple of my favourite downloadable prints, and we’ve been working on adding a few homemade pieces too.
I’m all about special little traditions. Half birthday traditions, Christmas ornament making traditions, Valentine’s Day traditions… They just make me happy. One of the ones I love most is is the handprint canvas Gracen and I make each year together.
When I first decided to start it just before Miss G’s first birthday, I picked up 5 small square canvases thinking that would last me forever and now we’re more than halfway through our stash. Hard to believe.
As always, Grae picked out the colour combination.
It’s crazy {and exciting and sad and overwhelming} to see how much this little hand grows each year (see last year’s print here).
Here’s this year’s masterpiece. Sadly, this one will stand alone here in Kuwait until another birthday rolls around, but one day in the future, she’ll have a collection of handprints, each one slightly larger than the last, displayed on her bedroom wall for all of us admire.
Check out last year’s handprint canvas post too!
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Today Gracen and I did one of our favourite things… We had a little mama and babe crafternoon. A Halloween crafternoon to be exact!
This is by no means a new idea, and it’s nothing fancy, but it is something I’ve always enjoyed doing with my kindergarten students. It’s fun, messy, and personalized with wee little handprints. Perfect for Halloween cards for grandparents, teachers, or a special friend. Here’s a quick run down of how Gracen created this little masterpiece.
First, start off by drawing a large asterisk on a piece of black construction paper or card stock (we use a hand over hand technique for jobs like this).
Next, connect the tips of the asterisk with concave lines in order to create a web shape.
Then, cut out the web. (This is tricky for little hands. Gracen tried, but our poster board is was so thick that it was next to impossible for her… This may be more of an adult helper sort of job.)
Place a small roll of tape in the centre of your web.
Tape the web down in the centre of a box lid, baking pan, or plastic paper tray.
Next, put some white paint in a small bowl or container and plop a {very scuffed} golf ball, bouncy ball, or large marble inside. (While I find golf balls work best because they’re big and heavy, marbles and bouncy balls make a more solid, web-like lines.)
Shake and swirl the container so that the golf ball is well coated with paint.
Next, gently tip your golf ball out of the container and onto the web.
Swirl and roll the paint-coated ball over the black paper web by tipping the tray back and forth.
When it’s sufficiently spider web-y, remove the paper from the tray and set it aside to dry.
Now for the spider… Gather up some brightly coloured paper, black paint, and a foam brush.
Using a foam brush, paint a good, thick layer of black paint on your little one’s palm and fingers (not the thumb).
Help your little one press their hand on the paper a couple of times to create two spider bodies and half of the needed legs. Allow the prints to dry for a couple of minutes while you wash hands.
Next, rotate the page so that the fingers are pointed downwards.
This time around, paint just the four fingers of your little one’s hand. (I like to use the opposite hand for this part so that the fingers are angled the same way, but that’s just the crazy in me. ☺)
Stamp them on the other side of the palm print in order to complete the spider’s body.
Today Miss G and I continued on a little birthday tradition we started last year when she turned one – painting a handprint canvas together. This year was even more fun than last because Grae was really able to get into it and participate in the process.
After picking out our colour combination, we gave the canvas a few coats of pink paint, letting it dry in between each one.
Then, once it was completely dry, I brushed a thin coat of teal on Grae’s hand and together we carefully stamped in the middle of the canvas.
With the project finished almost as quickly as it was started, Grae wanted to continue painting, so on she went…
As she worked on her own project, I sketched out a number two on the canvas’ corner…
Then carefully outlined it and filled it in with a paint pen.
Tada! A very simple art project that forever saves those little handprints I always have such a hard time wiping away from our mirrors and windows.
And here it is next to last year’s. Pretty amazing / heartbreaking to see the difference 12 months makes…
♥