Valentine's Day Handprint Placemat

Hello friends! Busy week. Sorry for the lack of posting and possibly making you hungry every time you click over here and see that gyro plate. Looking at it just now made me wish that's what we were having for dinner tonight! Leftovers instead.

Anyways, I've mentioned before that we like to make handprint art placemats on different holidays. This week we worked on a Valentine's Day placemat. I've yet to get it laminated, but here it is.
The boys love doing these handprints. I've found the best way to not make a huge mess is to use a foam brush to paint the paint on the child's hand. Then, I have them press their handprints down on white computer paper, not the actual placemat paper. So if we get smudged prints, we don't have to redo the whole thing and waste a big piece of paper. Instead, I cut out each handprint and arrange them on the placemat paper with double stick tape.
We're happy we'll have another placemat to add to our collection.

Etsy Shop Now Open!

Finally, I got my act together and listed some of my kid aprons at my new Etsy shop. I still have a few more to add, but it's a start at least. Check it out.

Handmade Gifts: Monogrammed Stone Coasters

I'll be doing a series of posts on handmade gifts that are quick and inexpensive. Just in time for Christmas!

This first tutorial is for one of my all-time favorites: monogrammed stone coasters. I've given a set of these coasters to all of my family and many of my friends. They're beautiful and useful - a perfect gift.

Here's what you need: tumbled tile {I used travertine}, rubber or felt bumper pads, staz-on permanent ink pad, patterned and initial stamps, post-it note.
Cut a small square out of the top of the post-it note being sure that the sticky part is on the back of your square. Stick the square in the center of your tile.
Rub StazOn ink on a large script {any fine pattern would work} stamp. Press firmly on the tile.
Whoops. I was a little heavy-handed on the ink on the top right. No worries. It doesn't have to be perfect. Peel off your Post-It square and place it in the center of the next tile. Repeat with all tiles.

This one turned out better.I like when there are gaps in the pattern. Don't go to great lengths to squash the stamp on the tile. A little give to it adds character.Pull out your initial stamps. I bought a set of these at Hobby Lobby years ago when they were 50% off. NEVER buy anything full price at a craft store. There are always 40% off {or more} coupons to use and Hobby Lobby is the greatest because they regularly reduce their merchandise to half off.

Remove the Post-It square and stamp the initial in the empty space.Gorgeous!

When the ink has dried, apply rubber or felt bumpers to the back corners of each tile.Wrap with a bow and give as a Christmas gift or housewarming present.

A note about the ink:

Don't use regular ink. Be sure to buy StazOn or another brand of permanent ink so that when the coasters are used, the ink won't run.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if you end up making them!

Holiday Handprint Placemats

We started a tradition last year of making placemats during holidays. We use our handprints to create the art on drawing paper and then laminate it for the kids to use as placemats. It's fun to see how the kids' prints grow and to look back and remember who was celebrating with us. We make everyone present participate!

For Christmas last year, we had so many I had to make two placemats to fit them all.

I've found that the best way to ensure clear handprints is to use a foam brush to paint the acrylic paint onto people's hands.
For the turkeys, I had a separate foam brush for each color and quickly painted the fingers and palms different colors before pressing them firmly on the paper.

I use thin construction paper or computer paper for the handprints. Then, once they're dry, cut them out and use a glue stick to arrange them on your drawing paper. This way you can collect several handprints without anyone accidentally smudging the art.

Another suggestion is to have each person do more than one print, maybe even with each hand. That way, when you sit down to turn it into art you have more options for creating your design.

As for turning it into a placemat, Office Max will laminate anything smaller than 11 x 17" for around $2 per sheet. Check your drawing paper and trim if needed to keep it smaller than that size. If it's bigger, you'll have to have it roll laminated which costs more than twice as much.

This is a great craft to do with your children around the holidays and my kids love pulling out the placemats year round to use during mealtime.

Happy Halloween

We had fun trick-or-treating last night as the characters from the Wizard of Oz.

I posted here about how to make the scarecrow costume. The Dorothy costume was a McCall's pattern and the lion was a Tom Arma pattern. The Tin Man we whipped together with silver lame, foam board and velcro.

Kid-crafted Wrapping Paper

I have a confession to make. I'm a gift wrap hoarder. I keep every gift bag, cute tissue paper, bow and ribbon that comes our way. I have a stash stored in tupperware bins under our guest bed. Why be such a bow and bag pack-rat? Gift wrap these days is adorable and it seems such a waste to throw away perfectly good things that have been barely used. But the biggest reason is that the stuff is expensive. I mean, you end up spending an extra $5 just to decorate the gift you buy someone. Honestly, I'd rather spend that money on the gift itself. So my big pile of bags, bows and papers is where I go when I need to wrap a gift. The other day, however, when I went to wrap a birthday gift for a kid's party, my stash failed me. No bag was the right size and I didn't have any birthday wrapping paper. Newspaper comics was my first thought. And then, Boo asked to go paint on his easel.
Perfect! I could use his paintings as wrapping paper.
I usually have him reuse the painted papers by painting on the back side the next time. But these would serve another purpose. He had fun painting, knowing that his paintings were to decorate his buddy's gift. I just taped the dried papers together and wrapped the gift as usual.

I also made a little yarn and ribbon pom-pom to tie on top. I used scraps I had on hand so it didn't turn out to be a stellar gift topper. But I don't think the three year old recipient cared anyways.

It's birthday week at our house and we're ramping up for Boo's party. Look for the birthday party posts coming up next week with a homemade pinata tutorial, paper banners, and other fun builder/construction themed party ideas.