I love this time of year. The house goes in upheaval as the red and green tubs come out of storage and the interior is transformed for Christmas.

One fun thing I’ve tried to do while my kids are still small is to have them help in some way in making home decor items and gifts for the grandparents.

An easy way to include your children, especially when they are small, is to use their handprints in your artwork.

Last year I traced a foot and two handprints, and created a reindeer:

As seen in Simply Handmade

This was a really easy craft project and made a nice statement in my holiday decor. I noted on the back who’s hand it was, and the year we stamped it.

This year I wanted to try something different, and came across a handprint craft using paint to create Santa’s beard. My girls had a lot of fun with this one, and I did too, because after getting their print, they had time to paint, and I had time to create the following project.

I took their handprint and stamped it on red cardstock. After it dried I trimmed out the hand, and mounted it on festive patterned paper. Then I created a hat, punched our circles to decorate the hat, used googly eyes, and buttons for the nose and cheeks. A simple hole punch was used for his mouth.

I embellished the background paper with scallops, and put the whole project inside a fox frame from Martha Stewart.

This will make a great gift for the grandparents or to keep for your own walls. The kids are only little once. I’m determined to document it in as many ways as possible.

Article by: Davinie Fiero