One of my favorite ways to capture how small my children are now is to create children’s fingerprint keepsakes like the one I’ll be sharing in this tutorial. I love every craft that my children’s tiny hands touch, and being able to capture their fingerprints and handprints is a wonderful way to create keepsakes that our family will treasure forever. This craft can easily be made into a kid’s craft for capturing the colors and feel of fall. The leaves on the tree can be colored in all the hues of autumn – oranges, reds, golds, and dark purples. One of the things that is so neat about this project is that it can be used to inspire creativity. I hope it’s a fun project for HappyandBlessedHome.com readers.
Our home is decorated in cozy soft hues of green. So our fingerprint keepsake is made in soft neutral colors. You could easily create a project like this to coordinate with any home decor, or make a tree for every season of the year. Our fingerprint plaque is a family tree of sorts as we included fingerprints from both of our children on the tree. The smaller, lighter green fingerprints were made by our youngest, and the larger, darker prints were made by our oldest. The beauty of using this as a family tree is that you can collect the fingerprints of all your children in one place and display them on a beautiful keepsake plaque in your home or classroom. Affiliate links are included for your convenience. By using my links you help support the design and hosting of this blog – Thank you!
Children’s Fingerprint Keepsake
These also make a wonderful gift and I made a few extra for my children’s grandparents so that they can enjoy the fingerprints of their grandchildren.
Supplies:
- Krylon Clear Polyurethane
- Wood plaque
- Scrapbook Paper – pick something that coordinates with your home decor
- Acrylic paints
- Tree Stencil
- Paint brush
- Mod Podge
- Scissors
- Pencil
Directions
Step 1: First, lay your plaque over the scrapbook paper and trace the shape of your wood plaque. When you cut out the pattern, make sure to trim a little inside the line to ensure that the paper does not extend pasted the curved edge of the plaque. As you trim, lay the paper over the plaque repeatedly to check for fit and appearance.
Step 2: This craft will require some drying time. Paint your wooden plaque whatever color you’d like for the outer edge.
Step 3: Lay your stencil on the scrapbook paper that you’ve cut and trimmed to fit the plaque.
Step 4: Use the tree stencil to create the tree image. In this case I did not paint on the leaves or bird from the stencil onto the scrapbook paper. I wanted my children’s fingerprints to be the only leaves on the tree.
Step 5: Once dry, the tree will look something like this. I do not attach the scrapbook paper to the wood plaque until the very end, because if gathering fingerprints ruins the paper, I will still have the plaque intact and can re-do the paper.
Step 6: Once your tree is dry, paint your child’s index finger with the desired color of acrylic paint. Gently and firmly press each leave into place on the stencil tree. Re-paint your child’s index finger as you go and keep adding leaves until you are satisfied with the overall appearance. Wash the child’s hands immediately upon finishing the fingerprint gathering portion of the project. If you are creating a “family tree,” wait until one child’s fingerprints are dry on the paper before adding another child’s fingerprints to the tree.
Step 7: Once all the paint is dry, use mod podge to glue the scrapbook paper into place on the wooden plaque. You can use the Mod Podge to seal the edges and prevent curling of the paper.
Step 8: Once the Mod Podge dries, spray the plaque with Krylon Clear Polyurethane to protect it.
You can attached a ribbon to the back of your plaque or place it on a shelf to display. Again, these make wonderful gifts and can be tailored to match any family member’s home decor.
How do you like to create keepsakes from the early years of childhood? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear from my readers.
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