Keepsake Handprints

There just isn’t anything much sweeter than your baby’s hand! They are so small, soft and ready to grab on to everything! I am all about memories. I’ve crafted and created many things over the years but the ones I love most are the ones where my children are part of it. Today I want to share with you my Keepsake Handprints craft that started on Mother’s Day in 2001 and was finished Mother’s Day 2012.

In May of 2001, I found this sweet poem online:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I’m growing –

I’ll be grown some day

And all those tiny hand prints

Will surely fade away.

So here’s a little hand print

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

Stevie (our now 15, almost 16-year-old) was 5-years-old at the time. It was Mother’s Day and Stevie and I immortalized this poem with his precious handprint. I typed out the poem using Comic Sans MS font. I chose a font size that was large but also left room for a handprint at the bottom. Although I can’t be certain, I am guessing it was acrylic paint because back then I did a lot of crafts with acrylics. I took a brush and painted his hand with a thick red coat of paint. I then helped him put his hand down on the paper reminding him to not move his fingers. Then I helped him lift it up straight off the paper. After it dried, Stevie wrote his name in crayon. I framed it in a plastic black frame I purchased from the dollar store. It has hung on our wall ever since (11 years!).

This past Mother’s Day, I was able to recreate a version of this keepsake with the help of our oldest son, Stevie, and our baby boy, Spencer. I wanted something different that was complimentary to the handprint poem I already had. I kept it simple, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned through the years, simple is beautiful. I typed the following using a large-size font and again, Comic Sans MS font type:

These

   will hold my

     forever!

I made sure when creating the Word document that I left enough empty space after “These” so that we could put both of Spencer’s handprints down. I love Google. Nope, they are not paying me, lol! When I need a picture, I go to Google.com and choose “Images” from the tab on the top. I type whatever image I am looking for in the search box and hit enter. Google finds all these wonderful thumbprints of what I was searching for. Once I found the heart-shape I liked, I clicked on the thumbprint. Another page opens and on the right hand side, you have some options. I clicked on “Full-size image” and the picture opened up in a window. I then right-clicked and saved the picture to my computer. This is how I found the heart clip art I used in Spencer’s hand print design. You certainly could find a different heart design or if you are super artistic, draw your own heart shape! I printed the saying out on plain copy paper back in April and set it aside. I was going to get around to finishing it before Mother’s Day but life kept me busy. On Mother’s Day, Stevie took it upon himself to paint Spencer’s hands with red poster paint using a one-inch foam brush Then Stevie helped Spencer put his hand prints down on the cute saying. Stevie and Spencer had fun doing this and you can tell Spencer wiggled his fingers a little, but it still turned out perfect! We waited for it to dry (Stevie put lots of red paint on Spencer’s hand, lol) and again framed it in a black plastic frame from the dollar store.

I made space for Spencer’s handprints next to his big brother’s handprint. It is my favorite wall in the house. On this tiny wall, are only pictures and handprints of our immediate family. On another larger wall (close to this wall), are tons of pictures in different colors, different sizes and different types of frames containing photos of our extended family throughout the years. I just love having our sons’ handprints adorning our wall!

It’s not Mother’s Day, but it’s someone’s birthday. I don’t know a mother (or a father) who wouldn’t love to get their child’s handprint as a gift! So have fun with this, whoever receives this Keepsake Handprints craft will surely love it as much as I love mine! The total cost to make these keepsakes was $2.14 (just the cost of the frames, since I had paint already) but their value now is = PRICELESS!