Hand (and feet) Crafted

We took the holiday season and carved crafted some memories into it. For Thanksgiving we made turkeys and for Christmas we made reindeer with our feet and ornaments with our hands and feet! Sometimes art is fun… and sometimes it’s not.

I take a lot of pictures, and sometimes I think to myself: just experience it! Losing my Dad at such a young age, however, I look at all of my pictures and wish there were a thousand more. More of my parents. More of me with my Dad. Just more pictures. And so, I want to create the memories. My favorite ones have always been pictures and video, but I love looking back at my hand prints done in ceramic. My Mom still keeps them and it makes me feel special to still be that little girl to her. I plan on getting a portfolio and keeping Addie’s crafts in there year-after-year. I hope to do these things until she tells me Mom, I’m too old for this. At which point, I will send her to the movies with friends and quietly cry (and drink a bottle of wine) in my room. And so:

The turkeys were hysterical… as Addie loved, then hated the paint!

It may have been trying to get there, but we made it… and the grandparents loved their new Turkey Day decor! …plus, Addie wasn’t the only one not thrilled about the paint! Hadley, my best friend’s baby girl, was none-to-exited about it:

It was super simple, and we used just 4 paints, mixing them together to get the colors we didn’t have, like orange and brown:

Using heavyweight paper, I cut out the wattle, feet and two circles, one larger than the other) to make the head. We used googly eyes, and the feathers were hand prints!

In the weeks following, Christmas seemed to be racing its way to us… and so, we took the turkey down and made some reindeer with our feet to replace it! This was MUCH more fun, as Addie had eaten before we started AND she loved kicking her feet. Thankfully, we were doing this project at home and I wasn’t afraid of the mess. (There really wasn’t one, but I was nervous there would be!) Again, using just 4 paints, I made brown, and then used black puffy paint for the antlers, red paint for the nose and small googly eyes!

There was a lot of paint left over, so I made one, too! I plan on giving each set of grandparents their own for their homes as gifts.

And finally… what is Christmas without a beautiful tree? Addie LOVES the tree and watching me put ornaments and lights on, and so I figured we would make a tradition in our house and make some salt dough ornaments of her hands and feet. I’ve gotten them as gifts in the past, but they always went mouldy on me in storage. I happen to have four large bottles of mod podge and they finally got some use sealing these bad boys.

They were super simple… You only need three ingredients for the actual ornaments: salt, flour and water. As well as a rolling pin and cookie cutters, if you plan on making more than just hands and feet! Get some paint or glitter to decorate, too, mod podge or lacquer to seal them, and some string or ribbon to hang.*TIP* I used a large bowl as a cookie cutter, to go around the foot and hand prints, and a chopstick to make the hole

and the tip of a knife write her initials, name and year.

So, using 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water, combine in a large bowl and knead the dough until it’s smooth.
Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/4″ thick (I HAD to use flour on the counter and pin)… then you’re done! Cut out shapes, make prints, go crazy!

Place your ornaments on an un-greased baking sheet and bake at 250* for 2 hours, then flip them over and bake for another 2 . When they’re done, paint, decorate or, at least, seal them! These are amazing keepsakes for you and your family, as well as for grandparents. I hope you get a chance to make some before Tuesday!

… for those who are wondering, ornaments also went better than hand turkeys. This little beauty loved squishing the dough in her hands. Luckily, unlike with paint, you can re-do these if need be!

Get your craft on!