Monthly Handprint Art – In November, the kids and I worked on an “extra special Christmas gift project” that we couldn’t share until all of our Christmas gifts were given.

We made journals for each set of grandparents – and instead of using pictures, we made 12 different handprint and footprint boards for 12 months.

Monthly Handprint Art

It was a labor of love (and a huge mess at times), but we had so much fun and I’m so glad I did.

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I thought we all had lots of pictures of the kids…it might be fun to do handprints and footprints for a change…and I was so surprised that Nora hadn’t told our special grandparents about our special project (she sees them all regularly).

I included an image collage on the front cover, but the monthly photos were replaced with beautiful prints and stamp artwork.

It’s definitely not perfect… but I was really happy with how it turned out, especially with how crazy Simon and James are!

Nora had so much fun working on this calendar and I’m glad I ordered an extra one to keep in our house. I also think I’ll laminate the original boards so they last a while (they’re so cute!).

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I know it’s past Christmas gift time – but there’s still plenty of time to order a 2016 calendar (for yourself or a family member). I’ve seen a free “free calendar” deal pop up here and there, so you might be able to score great!

Also, you can definitely make some fun stamps and stamp crafts even if you don’t make it into a journal. If your kids love to paint, this might just be a fun indoor project during the winter months

I had no idea what I was getting into – and to be honest, there were times when I wanted to scrap the whole project because it was a huge mess and the kids weren’t cooperating.

However, there were a few things that seemed to help the process go a little more smoothly – maybe they’ll help you if you decide to make a calendar yourself 🙂

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I just searched “hand journaling ideas” on Pinterest and instantly found hundreds of ideas. Also, Life You Way has a nice idea

I wrote down what design I wanted for each month and then what colors I would use for that design.

If you’re like me, of course you want to do it a month at a time – but that’s a really bad idea (especially if you have small children!).

Instead, I recommend working with one child at a time and focusing on one or two colors at a time

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I worked with Nora first (when the boys were asleep). I looked at my design list from step 1 and started with one color I went through each month and did all red, then blue, then green etc This reduced paint waste and the amount of time he spent washing hands and feet

I then finished Jacob’s footprints and Simon’s legs + arms because he was hard to sit!

Nora was fine with sitting still and holding her hands until I had a cloth ready to wipe her down – but anyone younger than Nora might have trouble sitting (and if she can’t settle, you’ll have big hands.).

For Simon and James, I had a wet cloth ready and waiting before starting to paint their legs and arms. I would paint, press and immediately wipe off the excess paint

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I also made sure Simon and Jacob were somewhat restrained (in their highchairs or cribs) while painting.

I would assume that anyone attempting any painting project with kids would use washable paint – but just in case, I thought I should mention it as one of my tips!

We used Crayola finger paints that Nora got for her birthday and they worked really well. I don’t think anything gets dirty in the process – so they actually wash

If you use regular printer paper, the color will bleed and the pages will be very wet and maybe a little wrinkled.

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Although we used finger paint, I used a brush to apply the paint to the arms and legs. It was a lot less messy that way and I could be more precise with different paint colors.

I swirled a little bit of each color on a paper plate and then used it to brush. This method worked very well

There are so many smudges, drops, and smudges on our page – if I think about perfecting them, I’ll still be working in January!

Although I didn’t consider myself “crafty” or “arty,” I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to cover up small imperfections with more color and transform them into something else.

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I turned the paint drops into fallen leaves, flying birds, snowflakes, flowers, etc. I just pretended they were there and dealt with any other “mistakes” I couldn’t cover up.

In my opinion, you can’t do a painting project with little kids without being willing to admit some mistakes and some ops.

I waited until the paint was really dry and then pressed the pages into a phone book to straighten them a bit. This will make it easier to scan (or take a photo of) them if you want to turn them into digital art.

If you’re printing a digital calendar like I am, you’ll need to scan or photograph your images. Then upload these photos to whatever program you use to print calendars (Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mented, etc.).

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However, you can make a handmade journal by simply gluing boards to printable journal pages (like this one).

I probably won’t be attempting another large-scale print or print project anytime soon, but we’ll definitely be doing a lot more painting this winter, as it’s one of Nora’s favorite ways to pass Simon and James’ bedroom.

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Thanksgiving Crafts For Kids Printable Handprint Art

If you disable these cookies, we will not be able to save your preferences This means that you will need to enable or disable cookies again each time you visit this website I love getting homemade gifts from my kids I admire them because I know it took them time to make it and they are always proud of their gift Since I love homemade gifts, I came up with a project idea that my kids could give to their grandparents. Introducing my handmade calendar! 😍

This printable journal takes a little time to put together, but when you’re done, you have a beautiful treasure that you can keep or give to loved ones. It’s super cheap to make and I’m sure the recipient will love it!

This calendar is available in my store When you buy it, you’ll get a PDF version of the calendar and a PDF of the instructions for each project I also have a Canadian calendar available here

(I want to remind you that projects don’t have to look perfect! My little ones were just proud of their work, which was more important than correcting it!)

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Here you go! All 12 techniques for this homemade calendar I hope you try it!

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