hands and feet

So I found a recipe online today to make your own "clay" for hand and feet impressions.  

Excellent.  Evening project :)

Jesse and I enjoyed making this, and have officially decided to do them every Christmas.  After it's dry, the idea is that we'll hang it in a shadow box next to a Christmas picture of Lily and put it in her room.  Assuming we keep this going and do it yearly, we'll have a cute progression, starting with her first Christmas. 

The recipe is super easy, and I'm adding it here for all my friends who might want to make some as well:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon salt

3/4 cup water

Bring to a boil over high heat.  Turn heat to low and continue stirring until the mixture is thick and creamy, and hard to stir.  Remove from heat; knead with your hands when cool, then flatten with a rolling pin.  

See?  Easy.  The recipe recommended using a chopstick to poke a hole in the top for hanging purposes, or adding jewels/decorations while the clay is still wet, and definitely dating the project!!

little feet..look at that runner's stance!

and now for the hand..

you can kind of see the red sparkles I added to my nails..

 tada!

It took us two tries to get it..the first one we decided I didn't press her hand and foot in deep enough to really get the impression.  The perfectionist in me didn't like that she curled up her hand once it was in the clay, making her index and pinky fingers deeper, but Jesse said to leave it.  I guess I agree: we'll never get it perfect, which is fine and very true.  We could mess with it all day until the clay dries and this just shows more character.

I guess that's it!  It was a lot of fun, super easy, and will look cute on her wall.  And I'm sure we'll get better with each year we do it!