Handprint Santa Ornaments

 

I'm sure you've seen these cute little guys floating around. I first saw a picture on Facebook, but couldn't find a link to a tutorial and when I looked on Pinterest, I didn't have any better luck. I thought I'd have to figure it out on my own, but when I tried Pinterest one more time before starting to make them...success!!

I made several of these guys using my little man's hands and can't wait to give them out at Christmas! 

(Sorry to ruin the surprise if you're one of my family members who'll be receiving them)

Want to make your own? 

Follow this tutorial from Look What We Made. Be sure to read the comments too, because there are some great tips from other people who have made them there. 

Here's a little about how I made mine:

These are salt dough ornaments. I used Lesley's recipe but doubled it since I wanted to make more and my little man's hands are bigger than her son's were when she made them last year. I mixed together:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup lukewarm water

*Mix your flour and salt together before you add the water. You'll have to knead the dough with your hands to get it completely mixed. 

I was able to make 10 ornaments using an almost 3 year old's hands. My son is pretty average size, so that will hopefully give you some idea of how much dough to make.

After rolling out the dough to probably somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch, we pressed his little hands into the dough and then cut out each handprint with a knife. Be sure you press firmly to get a good impression and use a nice sharp knife to get clean edges.

In the original tutorial she says not to bake them, but several those who commented baked them successfully (Lesley actually baked their Hand Print Tree Topper this year). I decided to go the baking route, and baked them at 200 degrees (F) for probably about 5-6 hours (I lost track, so I'm not positive on that time). Lesley didn't have to bake hers nearly this long, but it could be that I made our ornaments thicker. Be sure you flip them over half way through, so the bottom will dry too. 

Once the handprints were dry, I used these Shimmer Shine Paints from Target (they are acrylic paints). They worked great and I love the shimmer! Instead of using black paint for the details of the face I used a black Sharpie marker. 

I added a layer of Mod Podge to both the front and back of each ornament and let them dry.

Finally, once the Mod Podge was dry, I added some raffia ribbon for the ornament hangers.

Now they're all ready to be hung on your tree!

I had a little extra salt dough, so we made a few little ornaments with some miniature cookie cutters (they're an inch or two long and wide).

Aren't they cute? So colorful and fun!

My (almost) 3 year old son even painted a few...

Not bad, huh? 

He's been dying to paint ever since we bought the paints at Target.

It's a fun project that you could even do this weekend before Christmas if you have time. 

Have fun!

I'm linking at these great parties:
Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack *  Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*Make It Pretty Monday*
Tuesdays: *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * Too Cute Tuesday*Tuesday's Treasures* Trendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*Adorned From Above*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday * Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*Taking A Time Out Thursday*Eat Make Grow*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*Weekend Warmth*One Creative Weekend
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Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party

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