Friday, July 25, 2014

Hand Print Christmas Ornaments


I have a Christmas in July post!  I ordered our family's Christmas stockings yesterday and I am already planning out Christmas gifts and cookie platters! I am getting a bit ahead of myself, but thought I would go ahead and post these ornaments that I made last year.

Last December I stopped by Michaels and purchased a package of 4 glass ball ornaments, some glue, ribbon, and glitter.  At the time our kids were not quite 11 months old and still liked to clinch their fists, so I knew this was going to be a difficult task, but it was so worth the effort.

I poured glue on paper plates and let them swirl around one hand in it. Then I carefully handed them the ball and tried to flatten out their fingers. T's (the red hand print) was perfect. She grabbed it and then let go. That ornament was done in one shot! C's (the green hand print) took two tries because he did clinch his fist immediately after letting go of the ball smearing the glue. I had to do the print again and he was totally up for playing with more glue so I heard no complaints from him.

Once you have the hand prints you can take a Q-Tip and touch up where glue didn't hit, like the center of their palms or right where the base of the finger meets the palm. After a few touch ups I dipped the ball in a pile of glitter I had poured onto separate plates. I rolled it back and forth insuring I covered all the glue with glitter.

These are by far my favorite ornaments on the tree now and I will always remember making these with them and will treasure seeing their tiny hand prints in the future as I unpack all of our Christmas ornaments!