It is December and yes my friends, I am still alive! Everything is great with me for the most part so don't worry.
Just thought I would surface to share a few little Christmas keepsake projects for Christmas...
Since my child was born I have tried to incorporate something with his hand prints into my Christmas decorations. I think the thought process in this is that I figured I wanted to make myself cry like a baby in the future while unpacking all of these at Christmas and say things like "oh look how tiny his hand was!"
2009 was his first Christmas. His little hand painted white and slapped on an ornament makes those pudgy fingers into snowmen sitting on a pile of snow. Just outline and draw faces on them. Add a little clear coat and don't forget to put the name and date!
2010 I tried my hand at making dough ornaments with his hand prints in them. Yikes what a mess that was. It seemed that little hands want to squish up the dough instead of making a perfect hand print for me to have forever. Lots of do-overs on that project. Clear coat when finished and don't forget to put name and date on the ornament!
I also did this one in 2010. Same principal as the 2009 project with the hand making the pudgy snowmen...but I put them on a round votive holder and added color. Is it too repetitive that I say to add clear coat and name/date?
In 2011 I didn't actually do a hand print. I regretted that when I was decorating the tree. Instead I made ornaments that I let my son and his cousin paint and give out as gifts. Don't forget that clear coat and there is plenty of room on the back to write a nice message plus name and date! I have several painted ornaments in different shapes that I will treasure forever..or until they break or disintegrate.
Well, here is some of 2012's project!
We made Christmas cards. It incorporated his hand print AND his artwork as he got to paint his Christmas trees and his Rudolphs.
I am hoping he will allow us to do another round of cards, otherwise I may have an angry mob of people on my Christmas card list that get a regular old card!
I plan on having him make me a tree and Rudolph on canvas for me because they turned out so stinking cute.
I didn't take before or during pictures for this year's project so I will just tell you what I did. The trees used both hands and the Rudolph is only one hand. You do one hand at a time and wash that hand in between because toddlers tend to get paint where you would least expect it. Then when those are dry, put the other colors you want to use for painting the trees or Rudolph on a plate and have a cotton swab for each color. I did the tree colors on one plate and the Rudolph colors on another to prevent mixing and confusion. When dry I cut them out with the pinking shears and glued on colored paper. Then print out whatever you want to say on the inside. If he allows me to do another round of cards, the trees might only use one hand.
Who wouldn't want this cuteness in their mailbox?
