Salt Dough Hand Print Ornament by Kellie from This Blessed Nest {Ornament No.4}

I am delighted to start off today with

Kellie from This Blessed Nest

Hand Print Keepsake{Handmade Ornament No. 4}Welcome…Kellie!

Heeeyyy everyone! I’m Kellie from This Blessed Nest. I’m also know as Bag Full of Posies Etsy girl. I’ll gladly answer to both names. I am thrilled to be over here at Stephanie Lynn’s blog. I am a huge fan of everything she does. Just to visit over here is always so inspiring. Then to have a spotlight, well it’s all I can do to keep from squealing.
My ornament to share is a hand print keepsake.

This just happens to be a hand print from each of my twins. I wanted it to look as raw & natural as possible. Capturing a moment in time.

Over at my blog, This Blessed Nest, I do alot of decorating, diy-crafting, cooking, etc. But it’s almost all done with my 3 kids in mind. I have a passion for mixing both the kiddos & design.

Here’s my inspiration for the keepsake handprint:

For some reason these two hold hands alot. It’s their “twin thing” to do. AND I love it. As all moms would, my heart melts when they hold hands.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fussing over toys at our Nest as well, but these two will go down the hall holding hands. They will sit in their car seats holding hands side by side. It’s their “thing”.

I want to capture this before these moments will soon go by.
Here’s what you’ll need~

4 cups of flour
1 cup salt
Food coloring
Large Mixing Bowl
Water to moisten
cookie sheet
just a tad of oil
a small rolling pin or wooden dowel
a drinking straw
ribbon
a plate for a guide
paint *if desired

*My goal for this batch was to do a handprint with both twins’ hands on one keepsake & then to have a separate one for each.* This recipe had enough to make 3 keepsakes. Depending on the size & how many kids you have, you may need to double the recipe.*

In your mixing bowl ~ gradually blend in your flour & salt with water.

*Remember to add gradually, because you can always add more water then takeaway.*

It was easier for me to lightly grease my baking sheet with oil & form & roll out on the cookie sheet. Once you have your form made, I suggest you use your straw to make a whole in it before you have your kids emboss their hand print.

Keep in mind you need to have your dough thick enough to form the handprint. If your dough is too thin, it will not work. Place in a 150* degree oven for an hour. Or you can air dry over night & for 24 hours.

Here’s the picture of all 3 finished. They each have their own hand print & then the one combined. You can paint or gloss however you’d like. For me personally, I wanted it to look as organic & natural as possible.

This truly makes my heart swoon. I love every bit of the natural & raw aspects of seeing their hand prints together. Making these ornaments has captured some beautiful moments that we are experiencing right now in our home. I personally feel any keepsake ornament that can mark a moment in time is the best kind of ornament there is. It tells a story & I love that about homemade ornaments, you just can’t beat it!

Come on over & say “hi” at This Blessed Nest. Would love to meet you!

Thank you Kellie for sharing this incredibly special handprints. I can see from the pictures why you would want to capture those adorable tiny prints – so precious – it’s tugging my heartstrings!
I’ll be back in a few hours with our next guest blogger showcasing ornament no. 5; Just enough time for you to hop on over to This Blessed Nest and meet Kellie!

Kellie has such a fun home that is beautifully decorated centered around her most precious treasure; her family. Take a peek at her chalkboard wall {found here} – yep, love it! She also shares lots of her creative whims made in her swoon worthy craft room {found here}.

Kellie not only has an awesome kid friendly home but she knows how to throw one amazing party, like this Cute as a Bug Birthday Bash she threw for her twins in August. {found here}

There is much more to come and don’t forget at the end of the week we will be throwing a special party where you can showcase all your ornaments made for the upcoming season ~ Enjoy!

Comments

Julie @ followyourheartwoodworking :

November 23, 2010 at 2:52 pm

What really touched me about this was the description of the twins holding hands in their car seats. That is just so adorable!

I made these years ago when my children were small and it’s such a great thing to have. Every so often, over the years, they put their hands in the shapes to see how much they had grown.

Rebekah★All Thingz Related★ :

November 23, 2010 at 3:27 pm

I love this idea!

Ali @ Honey and Maple Syrup :

November 23, 2010 at 4:25 pm

Oh my gosh, I love this!! Thank you Kellie for giving me an idea for gifts for the grandparents =)

cleverlyinspired :

November 23, 2010 at 4:27 pm

Just shared on FB…love this!

Gina at Gigi's Creative Designs :

November 23, 2010 at 5:11 pm

What a wonderful idea, so cute.

Jenni :

November 24, 2010 at 3:28 am

This is so sweet! I love the ribbon you added to it, too! I am going to have to refer my sister to this tutorial! I bet she would love doing this with her little ones!

Jessica :

November 24, 2010 at 4:52 am

I love this!! I’m wondering if I could use a thin black sharpie to write the name and date? What do you think?? (babiejes at aol)

Stacey Gray :

November 29, 2010 at 4:35 pm

Thanks for the recipe! We made these last night, mine made enough for 4 ornaments actually, 2 of which I rolled pretty thick. Mine didn’t dry completely in the oven and have since been sitting out, but I think that they will be dry by tonight. I used a toothpick to etch the year in each of the ornaments. I thought that since my kids are 3 years apart it would be easy to tell which is which, but I guess my son has pretty large hands so I am going to write their names on the back with a sharpie. Thanks for the wonderful idea, we had a good time!

Anonymous :

December 8, 2010 at 1:23 pm

I really like the idea of making the salted hand prints. I’m definitely going to have my kindergartners make one for their parents. Would you recommend to back or to let them air dry? Is one better than the other?

Thanks, Megan
[email protected]

Anonymous :

December 8, 2010 at 1:25 pm

oops..please remove my email!

Katie @ Cheep Ideas :

December 23, 2010 at 7:22 pm

This is so great! I’ve been looking for something like this online, and I’m so glad you posted! I just made some with my kids for my hubby for Christmas. Will be treasured for years to come!

Bruce :

October 21, 2011 at 1:29 pm

Thanks for a great post
Christmas Gift Ideas 2011

Maddie's Mom :

November 22, 2011 at 6:43 pm

I was wondering, do you think you can make the dough ahead of time? Thanks,

Jamie @ hands on : as we grow :

November 23, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Those are precious! And absolutely adorable! A beautiful keepsake. I included these in a roundup of homemade ornaments for the kids –http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/2011/11/30-homemade-ornaments-for-kids.html — thanks for the inspiration

Gabby :

December 12, 2011 at 11:20 am

In the ingredients it says food coloring is that to mix in with the dough if you don’t want it so natural? I like yours and how they look and I’m going to do this with the kids I nanny, I’m so excited (:

Your twins are adorable by the way!

Anonymous :

December 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm

What a wonderful craft. I have a little grandbaby who will be 3 months old this Christmas. This ornament will definately be on my tree! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous :

July 15, 2012 at 12:27 am

I made these with my two and I painted them so I know which is which coz my two have the same size hands even though my daughter is 16 months old and my son is 3 months old I love how yours is natural and I love the way you do your recipe I think I will have to try it your way next time we do salt dough projects thankyou for posting

Jennifer :

September 8, 2012 at 5:14 am

I LOVE this idea! I am definitely going to make these with our twins!!! Also, just wondering where you got your pjs for your twins. I have such a hard time finding “Matchy” things for b/g twins!

Madeline Humphreys :

September 1, 2013 at 9:38 am

Loved the idea of handprint impressions made with flour and salt for Grandparents day…. having my Children’s Church Class make them for next weekend….I am sure it will be a hit with the Grandparents of the children….thanks for the idea and recipe.

Erin :

November 19, 2013 at 3:45 pm

This is an amazing idea and exactly what I was looking for! My husband will be in Afghanistan over the holidays and I wanted to send him something from our children that was original and “them”. Thank you for the recipe!

Nikki | Days With Us :

December 7, 2013 at 12:15 pm

I love your post, and I just made two batches of these hand print ornaments with my children. We had so much creating them together. The ornaments are in the oven now. Excited to see the end results. Thank you!

Nikki | Days With Us :

December 7, 2013 at 12:17 pm

I love your post, and I just made two batches of these hand print ornaments with my children. We had so much fun creating them together. The ornaments are in the oven now. Excited to see the end results. Thank you!