Christmas Ornaments - Louisville,KY

Hobby Lobby or Micheals have tote bags that can be painted on. You can put the hand prints on the bags and they can use them to tote their stuff.

I'm not sure if you mean you want to use paint to make hand and foot prints or if you are wanting to do impressions of the hands and feet. You can to make the impressions with plaster of paris which you should be able to buy bag of for pretty cheap maybe Walmart has it. Then you just need to find something shallow that is the shape you want to mix it in and let it set up. Make sure and follow the directions so you can get it back out of the container when you are done. I'm not sure how heavy they would be for Christmas ornaments though. You might also be able to find some sort of clay at some place like Michaels that you could use to do the same thing for not to much money.

C., My family and I are making all our Christmas gifts this year. My husband and kids have made several bird houses and I have been painting Christmas ornaments that I got at Michaels. Some of those were as little as 25cents a piece. Getting to your questions though, my daughter got some molding clay and she made a Jesus in a manger and took cookie cutters and made stockings, stars, and ginger bread men. She painted them and they turned out really cute!

you can use modeling clay, homemade playdough, or plaster of paris. Use star shaped cookie cutters (buy at dollar store) as a mold for the shape, then put his foot or hand in the clay/dough to make the impression. If you use colorless plaster or clay, then you could paint the sides of the star and/or paint the impression of his hand or foot as a way to further personalize it - use each persons favoite color or something like that. just a thought...

Hi C.,
One year my daughter and I made our own play dough like recipe from a recipe that we got online. We put my grandson's hand in it and baked it like the instructions said. Once it cooled we painted it. We punched a hole in the top and used the thin crochet twine to make a hanger. Once the ornament was dry after painting we use a clear coat of poly-something. Not sure what it was called. But you can get it at a craft store to make the ornament shiny.

The play dough was made out of flour, oil, water and salt if I remember correctly with food coloring added to make different colors.

You can look online for the recipe.
Good luck and have fun.

Hi C.. Congrats on your sweet baby. When I had my son, I did little ink footprints on quality paper and framed it. You could do that then cut them out or frame them in a little holiday frame. I loved his footprint so much I did it for both of my girls as well. Now everyone that come over can see my little munchkins new baby tootsie. I will treasure them forever. Hope this helps...

My daughter was in the hospital NICU for her first Christmas (2006) and the nurses there made the most precious ornaments for us using the babies footprints.I am not sure what they were made of, but it was some form of lightweight plaster of paris - almost like a foam. They put it in a mold shaped like a snowman, and then pressed the babies' footprints in them. They then added a litte paint to the snowman's hat and face, and stuck some little orange stick in for the carrot nose. You could do any shape you wanted, I am sure. You may want to "google" how to do such a project, or check at Michaels Arts and Crafts or JoAnnes. I am sure you can buy a tub of the plaster stuff and just use the same mold several times...to save money. Anyways, every year that we get out that precious ornament it just brings back those sweet memories...great gift idea!!! Good luck!

Hi C.,

You can make a reindeer ornament using one foot and both hands. The foot is the reindeer head and his hands are the antlers. They are really cute.

My kindergarten students used to make these. You can use construction paper, acid free paper or even the fun foam sheets to make them. We've done magnets this way too.

I made these with my son for his first Christmas and gave them to family for gifts. I printed homemade mailing labels that we attached to the back with Merry Christmas Love Aidan December 1999.

Here's a picture.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/handfoot/

C.
I have worked at a Preschool in Cordova for over 9 years. I like your creative and economical idea for gifts. My suggestion is to go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels - look for flat wooden stars ornaments in the Christmas section, which are usually on sale. It is difficult to paint an infants hand and lay it out flat. It is much easier to do his footprint. You can also go to Knowledge tree and look for yellow star cut-out of cardboard or cardstock. These can be laminated cheaply at Knowledge Tree. You can personalize it by putting name and year on the back.

Our 2 yr old classes are painting handprints on clear ornaments and putting date on the back. The ornamnets come is 6 pack which are on sale for 40% off now.

P.

you can look on line for playdough recipes that harden... we did this for my daughters 2 year old class in day care(i was a teacher there) they turned out adorable and it was soooo easy!! good luck and have fun!

I know you said you dont want to spend too much money but at the dollar store they have different wooden shapes you can paint and add strings on. Of course they are a dollar a piece. Very cheap. I go to a lot of craft stores because I let my kids make all the Christmas gifts for the family. Family love gifts that are handmade or painted by my kids.

I recently got a book of over 100 uses for Baking Soda. In it is the following recipe for play clay. I have not tried it. It says that it can be used to make hand prints.

"Make this clay, and then go wild with all the things you can create. The clay hardens as it dries for a lasting keepsake.

2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups cold water
Food coloring (optional)

Mix baking soda and cornstarch in saucepan. Add water, stir to mix, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10-15 minutes. Add food coloring to the water to make colored clay. Don't overcook. Clay should be the consistency of mashed potatoes. Remove to a plate. Cover with a damp cloth to cool.

Make it ahead of time, and store it for up to one week. Keep it refrigerated in a plastic container, but bring it to room temperature before using.

Three ways to dry play clay art:

Air: Set on a wire rack overnight.

Oven: Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, turn off, then place finished objects on a cooking sheet. Leave in until oven is cold.

Microwave: Place objects on a paper towel, bake at medium power for 30 seconds, turn over, bake for another 30 seconds. Repeat until dry."

"Capture a child's handprint in Play Clay by pressing into damp clay. When dry, paint and add the child's name and date on the back, then attach to a picture hanger."

If you decide to try this - I hope that it turns out nice for you.

One of the cutest little ornaments I've seen was from my daughter's daycare when she was two. They traced her little foot on brown construction paper and cut it out. Then, the traced both of her little hands on light brown construction paper and cut them out. The foot was a reindeer "face" and her hands were glued to the back and were the "antlers". They put little googly eyes on it and a red pom-pom for the nose. You can laminate these, so they last a lifetime. You can even punch a couple holes in the "antlers" and hang little tiny jingle bells with red ribbon. Put his name & the year on the back before you laminate it and it will become an instant favorite! =0)

We made them one year. We bought plaster of Paris, which was much cheaper than the kits. We used round container lids as molds. Just look for a star shaped container at the dollar store, Hobby Lobby, Walmart. As long as you start early you could do 1-2/day with same mold.
Good luck!
L.

The ones in kits are usually like cement and pretty heavy. I am not sure it would hang like an ornament. I have seen ornaments that were sugar cookies and then sprayed or baked on with something to harden and keep them. Maybe you could do that, use sugar cookie dough and make the footprints. You can always cut it into star shape around the feet. There are also emtpy glass balls that are ornaments at Michael's or JoAnn's crafts. You could put the baby's picture in it or even a pic of it's feet if the other does not work out. Last resort, they have frames that are ornaments and you can put a pic in it.

W.

I read all of the excellent responses, which made me start thinking that making ornaments would be a great project for us to work on this year, too, especially ones that don't cost very much!

I wonder if you could trace your little boy's hand and footprint onto a piece of that squishy foam, cut them out, then let him (or you) dip the print pieces into different colored acrylic paint, then press them onto the ornament. You could reuse them over and over, and maybe embellish them with glitter or something else if you wanted to. You could also write his name or something else on them with a paint pen.

Blessings

Keeping in mind that he's only 4.5 months.... make sure that the "mold" materials you're using won't irritate his skin. Non-toxic ink or homemade inks (google it, I'm SURE there's something out there!) may be your best bet. Are you handy with a computer? You could only do one set of prints, scan them, and then reproduce them in several colors to do a variety of things with the same prints (ie: red/green, etc.).