Alrighty, so I have been going through all of the photos that I have taken for my blog over the past 8 months or so (EEK!) and I ran across this fun little craft that introduced Alice to the fun of painting "tootsies". I am sure you have seen these before, but it was so fun, I couldn't resist posting it.

The first thing we did was pick our colors. I had selected traditional Thanksgiving/Fall Harvest colors. Alice added the purple. I think the contrast is nice together. Who would have thought that a two year old could open my eyes to a different design option?!?! Anyway, once our colors were selected, we put some on paper plates. As you skim through various painting blogs, you will notice we paint A LOT on paper plates. Plates do not bleed through like paper does...even the "artist" paper bleeds horribly when a child is finger painting. For the actual turkeys, I did use paper because the amount of paint was controlled.

The first step was to paint Alice's hands each of the beautiful colors. Of course, we had to make 4 or 5 different sets for all of the grandparents. Alice really got a kick out of this because it tickled! Every time the brush came into contact with her fingers, she would giggle! 

Once all of the hands were done, we took off the socks and got down to the business of painting feet! Well, that really got Alice going! She was laughing so hard my husband had to help me so she didn't get brown paint all over the place. We painted both feet which meant that half of the turkey bodies were lefties and half were righties.

In between turkeys and while the paint dried, Alice got to have some free time to paint whatever she wanted. Then we made a mini turkey with all of the colors. You can see it below. I loved the turkeys made with her feet, but the single hand turkey is probably my favorite because it feels like a better visual of how tiny her hands still are.

Once the paint dried, I drew a cute little face on the turkey and glued all of the pieces together. On the back, I put Alice's name and the date. Then when the glue was dry, I Mod Podged both sides of the turkey for protection. I used glossy Mod Podge...next year I think I will use matte. 

Alice loved this so much that now every time we paint, she wants to paint with her hands and feet! I hope your little one enjoys this fun craft, too!

I love Christmas. I always have and I hope I always will. I love giving gifts to my friends and family. I love baking yummy goodies to pass out to friends, family, clients, coworkers, and employees. I love hosting my mom's family on Christmas night as we share in the blessing of this holiday together. There isn't much I don't love about Christmas. And this love has grown exponentially since having a child. 

My first Christmas tree was a themed tree and while it was pretty, it just wasn't me. So in 2005 I started using various ornaments. That year I bought a bunch of cheap ornaments at the Dollar Tree but I have added sentimental ornaments since then. As a matter of fact, every year my family members get me an ornament for my tree and any time we travel, that is the one thing I buy when we stop in different towns. We have ornaments from the U.S. Treasury (it is actually a wreath made of shredded money), Hershey Park, Colonial Williamsburg, Tweetsie Railroad...just to name a very few. 

That being said, one of the special gifts I enjoy making to family and friends are ornaments. This year, I tried my hand at glass ornaments. I purchased several clear glass ornaments, various necklace charms (for Alice's ornament, I bought a guitar and drums to mark our trip to meet The Fresh Beat Band this year; for my teacher partner I used a flip flop and an "A" along with filling the ornament with sand from my wedding...just to name a few ideas), ribbon, and Epsom salt (which makes super great snow in ornaments!). At first, I tried to hot glue the ribbon to the top of the ornament so I could hang the charm from it. Well, that was disastrous! All I did was burn myself and make the ornament unable to close. After a few mess ups I realized I could just poke the metal hook THROUGH the ribbon...DUH! Oh my, how my fingers greatly appreciated that discovery! 

The ornament to the right was a simple Minnie Mouse ornament I made for Alice using Mod Podge and glitter...that is all! Using a q-tip, I applied the Mod Podge in the shape of Minnie's head WITHOUT the bow. I added the black glitter and let it dry for a couple of hours. Then I applied Mod Podge in the shape of Minnie's hairbow...or he-bew as Alice calls it...and added the pink glitter. She was THRILLED over this ornament! Below you will see just a few other ornaments that I made this year. Hover your mouse over them to see more of a description. 

Another cool ornament that I helped make last year was the "I Spy" ornaments that I did with the children on our Polar Express trip. I bought a bunch of clear PLASTIC ornaments, tons and tons of BABY DOLL items, such as tools, vegetables, sodas, books, etc., and of course, Epsom salt. Each child picked their own items to include inside their ornament. Once they put their items in, we used a funnel to fill the ornament with "snow". Super cute and wonderfully kid proof! We had children from 2-5 doing this on our trip with ease. Unfortunately, I cannot find my photos of this right now, but I promise I will keep looking and as soon as I find it, I will post it.