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3 Little Art Projects

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Every year I try to do a hand print and a foot print of the boys.  I love seeing how their little tooties have grown and celebrate all that ‘growth’ means.  I can’t wait to do that with all my kids.  Heck…if I had a dog I would do nose prints.  Is that a normal thing?  I heard somewhere that every dog has a different nose print…like our finger prints.  I need to google that…

 

yup.  it’s true.

 

and then through that, I found this.

Oh the curiosity-arousing side bars!  They get me every time.  Why yes I do need to know 10 medical facts that will change my life.  And yes, I absolutely need to see the first zombie proof house.  And I gotta see the girl who looks like a real life Barbie.

Let’s stop wasting time talking about things that waste our time and get back to it….three recent little art projects.  The first…handprints.

I just stamped Will’s hand on a piece of cardstock and then put a little cut out heart inside.  You know…because he holds my whole heart in the palm of his hand.  #cheesy  I did the same thing with Weston and put it in a frame upstairs to fawn over.  When the time comes, I can just peel the heart off and put the prints in their memory books.  I love this idea for a card for the grandparents or for a parent.  It’s probably gag inducing to anyone not completely in love with my children…but it’s true….the whole heart in their hand thing.

End of #1.

Ready…Ok!  Clasp clasp.

Here’s another little thing that took seventeen seconds but jazzed up a little frame quickly.  I had this regular ole Ikea frame that held a greeting card (the art on the front of the greeting card was cute enough to frame) but the mat was turning yellow…and not a cute lemony yellow.  It was more like moldy dingy cheese yellow.  So instead of scraping the mat completely, I just used a bit of washi tape to cover it up.

The third little project was a little more time intensive.  Instead of taking seventeen seconds, it took like seventeen minutes.

It all began with this package of shims.  It was left over in our basement from a past project.

First thing I did was plan a layout.  I altered them skinny side to the bottom then to the top then back to the bottom.  It gives it a more intentional look…even though it was uneven.

I decided to make this one with three alternating colors.  It was just craft paint.  I didn’t sand the shims or anything like that…just slapped one coat on each piece.

To glue them together you want to put a thin line of wood glue on two pieces of shims for the backside.

The back will look like this but to be perfectly honest, you DEFINITELY want it to be drying with the front side up.  That will force all the shims down into the glue.  I imagine that hot glue will work just as well.

I made a couple of these just for kicks.  This one got stamped with a sweet little phase.

And this one was freehanded with a red heart on a pink background.  The little ‘stitch’ marks were drawn with a white paint pen.

Over all…these were REALLY REALLY easy.  Like so easy that a child could do any of them.

So I need some more valentines décor.  I decided that there is not nearly enough valentines day in my life.  Will had ‘pink day’ at school today and I put him in a red shirt with a white button down over it.  I figured it was a lesson in color blending.  But mark my words, cupid is coming to town and we are painting it red (and pink and purple…)!

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  1. I love the hand print art that my kids bring home from daycare and school. And it’s crazy how quickly their little hands get big. 🙂

    My daughter will be all over painting the wood pieces. Maybe we’ll do that for a Valentine’s Day thing. She told me we need a project. ?? What? This looks like she’ll approve.

  2. Clever as always. Makes me want to go out and buy shims tond see what I can come up with. Maybe a herringbone project. Keep up the good work. xoxo

  3. Are comments back?! Woohoo! I love the wooden frame that holds the handprint. Where is it from? Recently? Please say yes.

  4. Did you mean to remove the birthday party/ milk post? Just wondered if it was a glitch.
    Lovely craft ideas….. and educational too. I didn’t know that about dogs.
    Cheers

  6. love these! i was wondering about the cute valentine wood thing- shims? I love that and so easy- you did a great job! and i do the handprint to- i like that you do it on cardstock- (why didn’t i think of that????) now you did for me- thanks! looks better in a frame- (you’re a genius!! ha ha) have a great weekend- love love your blog.

  8. I came back to revisit your Bday/Valentine party blog post (the TrueMoo one) and it’s gone! Such cute ideas you had in that post, am I crazy or did it disappear?

  9. I love the “Love you” Wood art… I might actually one day get unlazy enough to do that.

    But, what happened to the party post? All those pics were adorable!

  10. Love all three projects. How did you get the washi tape so evenly spaced? Did you measure with a ruler or just eyeball it? Thanks for sharing…love your blog
    Best,
    Michelle

  11. Love the pink art! Just curious, did you take down the s’more post? I loved it, and was looking for a picture of the table setting this morning but didn’t see it…..

  13. Your little ceramic bird looks mad from this angle LOL! All your crafts are soooo cute. We tried to do ahndprint ornaments for the grandparents for Christmas, but my little girl was only 22 months then. and let’s just say it did not go well. Getting a handprint is much, MUCH harder to do that you’d think, so good job!

    I’m loving the little red vase your rose is in, btw. Always love your little “tablescapes.” 🙂

  15. I like the painted handprints vs. doing prints in the quick-dry ceramic that is breakable and less than easy to store/display. Good call on the paint. I was looking for your sponsor post for the chocolate milk to see if you discussed ingredients (I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me!) but your post is gone. Ah! Can you share the name? I think I can find the ingredients online. Thanks!

  16. Love the handprint. My 3 month old will not let me paint him (he makes the tiniest fists!) so his foot was used. I can’t wait until he will let me do a hand print!

  17. Have you read “the Kissing Hand,” by Audrey Penn? It’s better for a back to school book, but goes along with your handprint art, so I figured I’d mention it.

  18. My boys have “wear red or pink” for school (instead of uniforms) for Valentine’s Day. With 4 boys, there is LOTS of red in the laundry piles in this house, not so much pink. 🙂

  20. Just eyeballed it. Washi tape can be removed easily so if you don’t get it right the first time, it’s easy to try again.
    xo – kb

  22. So cute!!! Completely off the subject of adorable hand prints…I want to paint the exterior of our house gray with white trim..it is currently white..but I need to convince my husband..so I need to show him 🙂 I know you have used websites before that allow you to upload a pic and “paint”..what is the best one to use?

  24. I am probably just failing at the internet, but I can’t seem to find your post about the sweet Valentines party you threw for your boys? I was going to try and recreate some of your ideas, but can’t find it anywhere.?

  25. Love it! Sooo cute. Only if my 11 months old will sit still long enough for me to stamp her hand. Have you tried it with Weston?

  26. Love the handprints! Those tiny hands grow big too fast. Just curious, what happened to the milk post?? Was I only dreaming of chocolate milk?

  27. Hi Katie!
    What happened to your TrueMoo post? Did you remove it? I wanted to revisit it to see your cute ideas but it’s gone?!

    Thanks!

  28. I did try it with Weston…I have both his hand and foot but admittedly the hand looks more like a smear than a legit handprint. I do several attempts usually and just take the best hand-looking-smear.
    xo – kb

  30. I love the shim art! I made a sign from shims as a Christmas gift and now I’m obsessed with them and how easy they are to use! I may be pulling them back out for Valentine’s Day art now 🙂

  31. If you are not going to publish a perfectly respectful comment with a genuine question, could you at least email the commenter and let them know why? I am saddened and frustrated that I have apparently been lumped in with the “bad guys” for no reason at all.

  40. Sorry Amanda! I sent you an email trying to explain but just in case you didn’t get it…your comment had a question mark and all of those are the last to get approved in moderation. It’s one of those time-management things where I honestly try to answer all the questions and this is the method to my madness. It wasn’t anything on your part whatsoever…just a busy time for us and I was trying to get to it when I could!
    xo – kb

  41. Hey Katie what kind of paint did you use for the handprint craft? I would love to do something like this with my little man, but I certainly don’t want to buy the wrong stuff. Plus, I want something that will last. Thanks!

  43. Hi Katie! I’m new to the whole kid’s crafts thing – my little one is only 11 weeks. What type of paint did you use for the handprint? And, in what color? I love it!

    Thanks!!

  44. I used acrylic craft paint…but an 11 week old might have really sensitive skin, so you may want to consider using a flour mixture with natural vegetable colorants just in case. I have made flour paint before and it’s more safe than acrylic. I used Martha Stewarts craft paint.
    xo – kb

  46. I’m not sure about nose prints for dogs. but in my hallway I had all four of my babies footprints hung up. 2 children, 2 dogs. yep, i’m that girl. you should have seen how messy and entertaining it was to do doggy paws!

  47. Did you mean “scraping the mat” as in using something to scrape it, or scrapping the mat as in throwing it out? I’m confused.

  48. Scrapping? Scraping? I meant just throwing it out…or trying to paint it or something else to cover up the ugly.
    xo – kb

  49. Hi Katie,
    I just wanted to say that’s an admirable and dedicated approach, not to mention ingenious (IMHO), to questions/responses.
    I rarely comment, but just wanted to give you a shout out of appreciation for all you do with your blog. I read every post, including frequent binge reads to catch up when things get busy. But I read them all!
    Thanks for being you and thanks for all you do. 🙂
    All the best,
    Kristin

  50. Thank you Kristin! I love comments and wish I could respond a huge THANK YOU to every single one because I know that it is time that folks are taking out of their day.
    xo – kb

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