Handprint Snowman Ornament

Every year we give a handmade ornament to family members for Christmas. This was Liv's gift last year and we had a lot of fun making these. I obviously drew on the snowmen "accessories" with a paint pen. However, if you look closely you will discover that the snow men are actually made up of Liv's handprint! 

What you need

Glass Ornaments

Ribbon to hang the ornament

Acrylic Paint/paint brush

Paintpens

Directions

1. Paint the hand of your child and have them carefully grab the ornament. You will want to be sure that the bottom of the palm is on the bottom of the ornament. You can touch up any gaps with a small brush and paint. However, I like the imperfections and kept mine as is. Also you can cover up some of the imperfections with the paint pen once you draw on the accessories.

2. Once the handprint has dried use paint pens to draw on the snowmen accessories. I did this myself once the kids were sleeping.

3. Tie a piece of ribbon to the ornament for hanging.

4. Wrap it up!

This ornament is going to be difficult to top this year. It was definitely a hit with the family and a favorite keepsake of mine as well.

Salt Dough Ornament

Every year we like to make an ornament to hand out to family members as gifts. Because Bennett was just a baby this past year we decided his ornament would be a salt dough ornament. This ornament is super easy to make and a great keepsake for the Grandparents! You can do either a handprint or footprint. Bennett was a little so squirmy for the handprint and having learned my lesson while doing this with Liv we opted for the easy way out. Have fun!

What You Will

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
Rolling pin
Cookie Sheet
Toothpick
Round Cookie Cutter (A large glass will do)
Straw (To make the hole for the ribbon)
Acrylic Paints
Ribbon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Mix together salt, flour, and water until dough is formed.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is sticky, sprinkle with flour and knead until stickiness is gone. To much flour will dry out the dough so be careful!
4. Roll the dough out to 1/4" think with a rolling pin.
5. Cut out round circles large enough for your handprint or footprint.
6. Use the straw to make a hole towards the top for the ribbon.
7. Press hand or foot into dough for imprint.
8. Place ornaments onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven.
9. Bake for 2 hours.
10. Paint the ornament however you desire.
11. When dry thread the ribbon through the hole and tie in a knot.
12. Enjoy the ohs and awes on Christmas Day!

Paper Plate Lion

I was looking at pictures on my camera the other day and realized that I had not shared this fun craft that we did over the summer. This lion was really fun to make and Liv got to try out a lot different skills to make him.

What You Will Need

Paper Plate

Yellow Paint

Construction Paper

Googly Eyes

Paint Brush

Glue

Scissors

Black Marker

Directions

1. Paint the paper plate just like so....



2. While your toddler is painting draw horizontal lines onto pieces of construction paper. These lines will act as a guide for your toddler while they cut.  (I cut my sheets vertically before drawing the lines...I wanted the strips to be a little shorter).

3. Cut away!

4. Glue strips of paper onto the back of the paper plate.

5. Glue on Googly Eyes and draw on a mouth. We got creative and used a scrap piece of construction paper for the mouth.

Project complete! This lion decorated the front of our fridge for a few short days. Unfortunately little brother got ahold of him and tore him apart. See both kiddos had fun with this project :)