fingerprint pussywillows

Pin It

This is one of two crafts I managed to salvage from my camera's memory card when my hard drive malfunctioned. I lost so many awesome crafts that I did with the kids. I'm really devastated about that. I did find this little gem on my camera's memory card though. I saw the idea of making fingerprint pussywillows in this month's issue of Disney Family Fun and knew it would be a craft we would enjoy. We love all crafts that involve handprints, footprints, fingerprints and thumbprints. This is a really simple Spring craft to make and it looks really pretty. Here's how we made it:

What you'll need:

canvas or paper
brown markers
light grey paint (I mixed white and black together)

Instructions:

1. using your brown marker, draw some pussywillow stems on your canvas

2. get your light grey paint and have your child dip their finger in the paint and stamp all along the pussywillow stems

3. allow to dry and display your masterpiece



Pin It

hand(print)s around the world

Pin It

With Easter over, we've been doing a few crafts around here to celebrate Earth day next Sunday (April 22nd). I absolutely adore this one. It turned out exactly as I had hoped it would. The earth and the people around it are actually their handprint stamped around in a circle 4 times. This isn't really a save the planet kind of craft for Earth day, but more about teaching our kids that there are people of different color, race, and religion all over this world, but we are all the same and we need to treat everyone kindly and with respect. I know my kids are only 3 and 4, but it's never too early to teach your children those important life lessons. They thought this craft was really cool, and they are proudly displaying these masterpieces on canvas in my living room. Here's how to make this really simple craft:

What you'll need:

canvas or paper
paint - blue and green for the earth, and 5 different colors for the fingers (people)
paint brushes
markers or sharpies

Directions:

1. paint your child's palm with some green and blue paint. Then paint each of their 5 fingers a different colour.

2. have your child stamp their hand around in a circle 4 times. You may have to add more paint to their hands after 2 stamps (that's what I did).

3. allow for the handprints to dry

4. using your markers or sharpies, turn the fingers into people by adding eyes, mouths, hair, and arms holding hands





Pin It

handprint lorax

Pin It

We all went to see The Lorax in the theatre on the weekend and it was absolutely fabulous. The kiddos were so well behaved, their eyes fixated on the screen the entire movie. James and I thought it was really great too. I think it will definitely be a family favourite once it comes out on video. Kirsten asked me if we could make a Lorax craft on the weekend, and I happily obliged. Of course, my hand always goes to handprint crafts, and this was no exception. I figured her handprints would make a perfect moustache for our little Lorax. I think it turned out pretty cute, but her hands are also getting pretty big for crafts like this. It might have looked a little better with Cam's smaller hands, but he really hasn't wanted much to do with crafts lately. He's a busy little guy and doesn't like sitting still for long to do the crafts. He usually gives me about 3 minutes of craft time, and then he's on to something else! Here is how we made this craft:

What you'll need:

cardstock - 1 large white 12x12, orange, yellow, white
scissors
glue
yellow paint
paint brush
black and green sharpie

Directions:

1. using your scissors, cut a Lorax body shape out of your orange cardstock. Glue this on your large white 12x12 sheet.

2. also using your scissors, cut a nose out of your orange cardstock, 2 eyebrows out of your yellow cardstock, and 2 eyes out of your white cardstock. Glue these pieces on your lorax.

3. using your green and black sharpie, colour in the eyes

4. paint your child's hands with the yellow paint and have them stamp their hands on the Lorax to create his moustache. Allow to dry.

5. using your black sharpie, write the quote on your creation - "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Such a great quote from the movie!!



Pin It

conversation heart kisses

Pin It





These adorable little Hershey Kisses with stickers were very popular on the internet last Valentine's Day. I decided to make some of my own this year for my kiddos to give out for Valentine's Day. I love the look of conversation hearts because they are so darn cute, but don't really love the taste of them. My solution was to add a conversation heart sticker to the bottom of the Hershey's Kiss - and who doesn't love Hershey's kisses?!?! We put 3 of these little kisses in a small bag and the kiddos and I made some tags using their adorable little thumbprints for the hearts. I think their friends are going to love these. Now I made these stickers to fit the bottom of a Hershey's kiss - which is 3/4". Try and get your hands on a 3/4" punch if you can. I couldn't find one and as you can see, they aren't perfect. Not that the kids will care, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.



Here's how we made them:

What you'll need:

Hershey's kisses
my free printable labels
sticker paper
3/4" punch

To make the treat bags and labels:

small plastic baggies
white cardstock
3" scalloped paper punch
red and pink paint
black sharpie
tape

Here is what my free printable stickers look like:



Get your own free labels here

Directions:

1. print out my free printable conversation heart stickers on sticker paper

2. using a 3/4" paper punch, punch out the stickers

3. attach the stickers to the bottom of your Hershey's kisses

4. grab some white cardstock and using your 3" scalloped punch, punch out some scalloped circles

5. have your children stamp their thumbs using the red and pink paint on the scalloped circles turning their thumbs into heart shapes

6. using the black sharpie, write a little Valentine's message on the label and allow the paint to dry



7. put a few kisses in a plastic baggie and tape the label on the top.







Pin It

handprint monsters

Pin It

3 monster handprints for my 3-year old little guy. Camden had an awesome monster birthday party for his 3rd birthday a couple weeks ago and we made some super cute handprint monsters. I put the handprints on a nice piece of canvas and have this on display on his bookshelf in his bedroom. It's adorable. We made different looking monsters by only painting some fingers and also stamping his hand upside down. There are really so many cute ways you could make this. This craft was beyond simple (aren't all my crafts?!?!). Here's how we made it:

What you'll need:

a piece of canvas
3 different colours of paint
googly eyes
glue
black sharpie
paint for decoration

Directions:

1. paint your child's hand and stamp it on the canvas. I think it's easier to do the middle one first, and then it will at least be centered. Mine were supposed to be in a straight line, but as you can see, they aren't!

2. allow the paint to dry

3. decorate your little monsters using googly eyes, sharpies and paint. Make them as cute or as scary as you want!



Pin It

handprint angel

Pin It

And here's yet another handprint Christmas craft. We've been doing lots of these this Christmas! Just Kirsten made this one. Her angel also doesn't have any legs because, well, she didn't want her to have any. Feel free to give your poor angel some legs! I guess Kirsten figured she didn't need any because she can fly! Here's how we made this craft:

What you'll need:

cardstock - whatever shades you want to make your angel
white paint
scissors
glue
googly eyes
sharpie

Directions:

1. cut some angel pieces out of your cardstock - a dress, a head, a halo, some hair

2. glue these pieces to your cardstock

3. paint both of your child's hands white and have them stamp them on the page for the angel's wings

4. glue on 2 googly eyes

5. use your sharpies to draw on the face details



Pin It

handprint rudolph

Pin It

Here's another handprint craft to add to our collection. We've done so many over the years and I just love them. The kids think these handprint reindeer are adorable and they just love seeing their artwork on display inside the house. Here's how you make this super simple craft:

What you'll need:

cardstock - brown, red, beige/off-white
scissors
glue
googly eyes
brown paint

1. using a piece of brown cardstock, cut out a reindeer's head and 2 ears.
2. glue the head and ears towards the bottom of your beige/off white piece of cardstock
3. using your red cardstock, cut out a nose and glue on your reindeer's face
4. glue on 2 googly eyes
5. dip both of your child's hands in brown paint and have them stamp them at the top of the reindeer's head for the antlers
6. allow to dry





Pin It

thumbprint Christmas ornaments

Pin It I absolutely ADORE the ornaments we made this year. I've been dying to post them ever since the kiddos and I made them last week. We put our tree and Christmas decorations up yesterday so I figured now's a good time to share them. The kids and I make a different ornament for the tree every year. We've made handprint snowman ornaments and snowflake ornaments. These are defintely my favourite to date though. Not only are they freakin adorable, the characters are their sweet little thumbprints so they are keepsakes for years to come. I was very nostalgic when I took their handprint snowman ornaments and hung them on the tree yesterday. I can't believe how much their sweet little hands have grown in just 2 short years. Bittersweet. Make sure you write their name and date on the bottom of the ornaments. I used a black sharpie. Here's how we made these adorable ornaments. Trust me, you'll want to make a set for your tree too!

What you'll need:

clear glass ornaments
paint
paintbrushes
paper plates
sharpies

I like to pour the paint on paper plates and have the kids dip their thumbs in the paint. I think it covers better because you get more paint on their thumbs this way. If you use a paintbrush and paint it on, you make not get enough paint coverage.



First, dip your child's thumb in peach paint and stamp in the middle of the ornament. Then dip your child's thumb in red paint and stamp on slightly overlapping the peach one for Santa's hat. Then dip your child's thumb in white paint and stamp it slightly overlapping the peach one for Santa's beard. Allow the paint to dry completely. Then use sharpies to draw on Santa's features. I dipped a pencil eraser in white paint to get a perfect circle for the pom on Santa's hat and used white paint for the bottom strip of Santa's hat. The sharpies work well if you are using them over the painted parts, otherwise the paint works better for the glass ornaments.



Dip your child's thumb in white paint and stamp in the middle of the ornament. Allow to dry completely. Use a black sharpie to draw on the penguin's eyes, and black body. Use an orange sharpie to draw on a beak. Then I used black paint for the wings and orange paint for the feet.



Dip your child's thumb in peach paint and stamp in the middle of the ornament. Then dip your child's thumb in green paint and stamp it slightly overlapping the peach print for the elf's hat. Then dip your child's thumb in white paint and stamp it just below the peach print for the elf's shirt. Allow the paint to dry completely. Then I used a red sharpie to draw stripes on the shirt and for the smile, a black sharpie for the eyes and a pink sharpie for the cheeks. I used yellow paint for the elf's hat and peach paint for the ears.



Dip your child's thumb in brown paint and stamp in the middle of the ornament. Allow to dry completely. Then I used brown paint for the antlers, and black and red sharpie for Rudolph's features.



Dip your child's thumb in white paint and make 2 thumbprints on the ornament for your snowman. Allow the paint to dry completely. Then I used sharpies for the snowman's eyes, carrot nose, mouth, scarf and buttons. I used black paint to paint on Frosty's hat.



Pin It

handprint santa

Pin It

On to the Christmas crafts! We've been crafting away like crazy here and I'm so excited to start sharing some of our Christmas creations. These cute little Santa's were very fun to make. The kids stamped their adorable little hands in white paint and then stamped them to make Santa's beard. Really easy, really cute, and a great Christmas keepsake for year's to come. Here's how we made them:

What you'll need:

Cardstock - 1 base piece, and then pieces in red, white, peach, and pink
googly eyes
sharpie
white paint
glue
scissors

Directions:

1. cut a circle out of your peach cardstock for Santa's face and glue it on your main piece of paper
2. cut Santa's hat out of your red cardstock and glue it on your main piece of paper
3. cut a white circle and white strip out of your white cardstock for Santa's hat and glue on main piece of paper
4. cut some circles out of your pink cardstock and glue on Santa's cheeks
5. glue some googly eyes on Santa
6. dip your child's palms in white paint and have them stamp a beard for Santa
7. using your sharpie, draw on a mouth





Pin It

handprint turkeys

Pin It

I've done handprint turkeys for Thanksgiving before, but these ones are a little different. I think they're super cute. They were really simple to make and make for great memories down the road of how small your kiddos hands really were. I just love them. Here's how we made these adorable turkeys:

What you'll need:

paper - white, brown, orange, red
scissors
glue
googly eyes
paint - red, orange, green, yellow, brown
paintbrushes

1. paint your child's hand in each of the above paint colours and stamp them around your white piece of paper in an open feather shape.

2. using your brown paper, cut out a body and head and glue them on your turkey.

3. using your orange paper, cut out some legs and a beak and glue them on your turkey.

4. using your red paper, cut out a gobbly thingy and glue it on your turkey.

5. glue on some googly eyes.





Pin It

handprint ballerina tutu

Pin It

This is probably one of my most favourite crafts I've done with Kirsten so far. This is just so cute and incredibly creative and I can't take credit for any of it. When I posted Kirsten's first dance recital pictures last weekend, my blogging friend Michelle, from The Nature of Grace , emailed me this adorable craft she did with her daughter. I went out that same evening and got some canvas to do this craft with Kirsten. I'm never that excited about a craft that I go get the supplies the same day. Never. Now I'm nowhere near as artistic as Michelle, so you simply must go check her version out here . Hers turned out so beautiful. Mine are more basic, because that's about the extent of my artisticness (is that a word?). Hers are also a little neater than mine because Kirsten wasn't too careful stamping her handprint in the tutu pattern. Oh well, she had fun with it! While you're over there, be sure to check out some of the awesome lunches she makes too. She is one crafty mama. Here's how to make these adorable handprint ballet tutus:

What you'll need:

canvas
2 shades of pink paint
paint brush
pink cardstock
scissors
glue
pink ribbon

Directions:

1. fold your piece of pink cardstock in half and cut out a dance suit shape. Unfold it and your dance suit will be completely symmetrical.
2. cut a piece of pink ribbon and glue it on your body suit at the waist, folding and gluing the ends on the back side.
3. glue your dance suit on your piece of canvas
4. using your lighter shade of pink paint, stamp your child's palm 4 times to make a tutu shape on the bottom half of the body suit
5. using your darker shade of pink paint, stamp your child's palm 2 times to create a fuller tutu
6. cut a piece of ribbon and tie it in a bow and glue it to the ribbon on the bodysuit.
7. display your beautiful masterpiece.



We made 2 and I'm not sure which one I like better. I like the tutu better on the first one and the body suit shape better on the second one. Right now, I've got them both up in her bedroom and she just adores them, as do I. If you've got a little ballerina, this is just an awesome craft to make. Thanks for sharing this awesome craft Michelle!

Idea from The Nature of Grace



Pin It

handprint sunflower

Pin It

I've been wanting to do this craft for awhile, but for some reason it always got pushed to the back of the list. And yes, I have a list of crafts I want to do with the kiddos. With the amount of crafts we do, it's the only way I can stay organized. Kirsten thought this was really fun and it turned out really pretty. I currently have it on display in my living room and I think it will probably stay there all summer long. Here's how you can make one yourself:

What you'll need:

yellow paint
green paint
paintbrushes
green craft foam
scissors
glue
black beads
canvas or paper

Directions:

1. paint your child's palm yellow and have them stamp it 4 times in a circle at the top of your canvas
2. paint a green stem
3. cut 2 leaves out of your green craft foam and glue them to the stem
4. when the yellow paint is dry, put some glue in the middle of the sunflower in a circular shape and sprinkle with black beads
5. allow to dry and display your beautiful masterpiece



Pin It

handprint birthday cake

Pin It

My sweet little Kirsten is turning 4 in just one week. I can't believe it. I'm not going to lie, it makes me a little sad. Kirsten on the other hand is so excited. Every morning when she wakes up she asks me if her party is today. She's totally counting down the days now. Yesterday, in honour of her fourth birthday, we made handprint birthday cakes with 4 candles. I've had this idea floating around in my head for awhile, but wanted to wait until her fourth birthday to make it. I think it turned out super cute. You could make these with any number of candles from 1-4 by painting only the fingers you need. Here's how to make these:

What you'll need:

paper
paint
paintbrushes
glue
glitter
marker

Directions:

1. paint your child's palm 1 colour (we're not painting the thumb with these)
2. paint each finger a different colour - paint 1-4 fingers depending on how many candles you want on your cake
3. stamp your child's hand on the paper and allow to dry
4. take your glue and make cake designs
5. sprinkle glitter over the glue and allow to dry
6. using a marker, draw on the candle flames

It even looks adorable framed! Please ignore my reflection, lol!





Pin It

thumbprint heart rings

Pin It

I'm back with our second mother's day jewelry craft. It is the exact same concept as the necklaces below, but we just turned them into rings. Again, these were super easy and the kids had fun making them. Kirsten liked the rings so much she wanted to make some for herself too, so we did. They're pretty cute. Again, I love the look the nail polish gave instead of using paint. It gives it just a hint of shimmer that really is beautiful. I'm sure any mom would love to get one of these rings for mother's day. Here's how to make them:

What you'll need:

white crayola model magic
rolling pin
circle cutter (oops, not pictured again!)
nail polish - whatever colours you wish
glue
adjustable rings



Directions:

1. roll out your model magic so it's about 1/2 inch thick
2. using your circle cutter, cut circles for how many rings you'll be making
3. have your kiddos stamp their thumbs in a heart shape on the circle
4. allow to dry over night
5. using whatever shades of nail polish you wish, paint the heart and allow to dry - you may need to do multiple coats to get the desired colour/shade
6. glue an adjustable ring on the back and allow to dry







Pin It

thumbprint heart necklace

Pin It

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Since Mother's Day is this coming weekend, the kiddos and I made me some jewelry. Mother's (or at least me, lol) just seem to love anything that involves their little ones handprints, thumbprints or footprints. They make great keepsakes and are so precious. I decided the littles could make me some keepsake jewelry this year for Mother's Day (with my help, of course). These necklaces were so simple to make, and although I probably wouldn't wear them somewhere fancy, they turned out really cute and would make great everyday jewelry. I painted the inside with sparkly nail polish to give it that little extra that paint wouldn't have given. The nail polish was brilliant because the inside is a gorgeous colour with just a hint of shimmer. We also made some rings which I will share another day this week. Here's how we made them:

What you'll need:

white crayola model magic
rolling pin
small circle cutter (not pictured)
bamboo skewer
nail polish - in whatever colours you wish
necklace



Apparently I'm pretty terrible at photographing supplies! I ALWAYS leave one or more items out and don't realize it till I'm writing the blog post. Oops!

Directions:

1. roll out your white model magic so it's about 1/2 inch thick
2. using your circle cutter, cut out however many circles you want depending on how many necklaces you are making
3. get your kiddos to press their little thumbprints in a heart shape on mid bottom of the circles
4. slightly pinch the top of the circle and push a bamboo skewer through to make holes on each side. Take out the necklace you'll be using and make sure the holes are big enough for your necklace to go through.
5. allow to dry overnight
6. pick out your favourite shades of nail polish and paint the heart shape - you may have to do a few coats to get your desired colour - I think I did 3 coats each - allow to dry
7. thread your favourite necklace through the holes (I just picked one out of my jewellery box) and wear your little keepsakes with pride.

Kirsten's is the pink one and Cam's is the red one.





Me modelling my children's creations:



Come back this week to check out the rings we made too! Have a great day!





Pin It