Welcome to my very first blog post!
This year is my daughter's first Christmas. She is 11 months old. I wanted to make something special to give to friends and family. My original plan was to do painted hand prints on glass bulb ornaments. I bought pretty blue glass bulbs and kid-safe finger paint. That plan quickly went out the window when I realized how messy, time-consuming, and how many I actually needed to make for gifts!
Plan B- what do I already have in my house? I had air dry clay which my husband had given as a gift when my daughter was first born so we could capture hand and foot prints occasionally- which I have done. It's not messy....perfect!
This year is my daughter's first Christmas. She is 11 months old. I wanted to make something special to give to friends and family. My original plan was to do painted hand prints on glass bulb ornaments. I bought pretty blue glass bulbs and kid-safe finger paint. That plan quickly went out the window when I realized how messy, time-consuming, and how many I actually needed to make for gifts!
Plan B- what do I already have in my house? I had air dry clay which my husband had given as a gift when my daughter was first born so we could capture hand and foot prints occasionally- which I have done. It's not messy....perfect!
 | A hand print was going to be too large to be a small, simple ornament. And I was stuck on the ornament idea and did not want to venture into other territory. Baby thumb prints are cute too! Done. |
How can I engrave it? I tried using a needle to dig into it and write her initials, but that proved to look messy and ugly. My mom happened to have some scrapbooking stamps that never see any use. Tried them out and they worked perfectly!
Next I balled up the clay in small-ish balls and used a rolling pin and wax paper to roll out. While was daughter was suitably distracted by Sesame Street, I pressed her thumb into one after another assembly-line-style and finished in minutes. Then I added her stamped name and the year.
*Tip- When making a lot, do all the M's first, then the A's, then the Z's (well obviously not those letters unless your child's name is Mazie) and so on. Picking up all the little stamps and spelling out for every individual one takes a lot longer.
*Tip- When making a lot, do all the M's first, then the A's, then the Z's (well obviously not those letters unless your child's name is Mazie) and so on. Picking up all the little stamps and spelling out for every individual one takes a lot longer.
Use a needle to dig a small hole into the top. I pressed straight down then swirled so that it didn't dig up the clay too much around the rim of the opening.
If you feel like not everyone in your child's life will want her thumbprint on an ornament, then you can also make the gingerbread men! Roll and cut with a cookie cutter. Skip thumb step, add other child's name and year and dig hole in head, voo-doo-doll-style.
If you feel like not everyone in your child's life will want her thumbprint on an ornament, then you can also make the gingerbread men! Roll and cut with a cookie cutter. Skip thumb step, add other child's name and year and dig hole in head, voo-doo-doll-style.
Let clay air dry as long as container says or (if you are impatient like I was) wait one day less. Then take outside and paint with silver spray paint. This was the only thing I actually needed to get from the store. Score!
I placed the ornaments in old shoe boxes to keep the paint from going everywhere on my front porch. Smart, eh? Except when one shoe box has some weird hole in the bottom for some reason- then you get silver spray paint on the old slate porch of your 100+ year old house and you wipe it up super fast before your husband even notices!
I did a few coats of silver paint. I let these dry for the appropriate amount of time, because otherwise the paint was putting a dusting of silver on my hands.
I placed the ornaments in old shoe boxes to keep the paint from going everywhere on my front porch. Smart, eh? Except when one shoe box has some weird hole in the bottom for some reason- then you get silver spray paint on the old slate porch of your 100+ year old house and you wipe it up super fast before your husband even notices!
I did a few coats of silver paint. I let these dry for the appropriate amount of time, because otherwise the paint was putting a dusting of silver on my hands.
For the smaller ornaments I used a silver cord. Loop through instead of just tying through the hole so they face forward and not sideways when hanging on the tree. (find the center of the cord and push that loop through the hole. I used a needle to help smoosh it through. Then once the loop is sticking out the back you put both ends of the string through that loop. This is very simple to do, but hard to explain in writing.)
For the gingerbread men I used a larger ribbon. Same looping technique so that they face forward.
I had a bunch of these mini stockings (over-stock inventory from my husband's store) so they made perfect gift bags to hold the ornaments plus give them a little padding to keep them safe.
For the gingerbread men I used a larger ribbon. Same looping technique so that they face forward.
I had a bunch of these mini stockings (over-stock inventory from my husband's store) so they made perfect gift bags to hold the ornaments plus give them a little padding to keep them safe.
I am so pleased with how they came out. They look like hammered metal and they sparkle and glisten on the tree. Here's hoping everyone who gets them likes them as much as I do!
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