Snowmen Fingers Pinterest Project

Welcome to the March Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop. The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! This month I chose to create, or rather recreate snowmen fingerprints. 

I'm not the best person at maintaining yearly traditions. I do make an effort to send out Christmas letters nearly every year, but even those have a unique format depending on the type of year we've had. Same with documenting our kid's lives. Some years we make photo books, other years its handprint/fingerprint art, or simply framing and hanging up the art they bring home from school (They have skills! No need to purchase commercial art when we have several artists-in-residence under our roof!).

I have to confess that I stopped measuring my kids' height after the second kid turned one. I don't think I've ever measured my youngest. The pediatrician as all that info so I suppose I could get a copy from her and quickly pencil it onto a growth ruler. 

Other super cute ideas that I haven't gotten behind, but appreciate the idea of, including taking pics of my daughter in my wedding dress on our wedding anniversary; having the kids' teachers write them a note inside Oh, The Place You'll Go! to gift them at the end of high school and celebrating half birthdays. All great ideas that yield a collection of memories years from now. 

We're just not the biggest celebration people. We keep it simple yet meaningful. 

Now we create as the year unfolds. Some years we buy school photos...but this year we took a green screen picture at Galaxy Fest where my youngest, dressed as Ironman, appears to fly while his siblings, armed with a sword and giant machine gun, fight off the enemies on the ground. It's awesome! Our photo books center around trips or big events rather than a yearly collection. Some years we make Christmas ornaments at home...and other years we hang the school made paper ones instead. 

Take these fingerprint snowmen,  a super adorable idea I stumbled upon while scrolling thru Pinterest.  Click here for the original post. We tried this three years ago. It was a project that was so cute the first time around I thought I'd repeat it this year.  

The materials for the project are simple.  

Wood: check

Paints: check

Kid's Fingers: check, check, and check

Sharpies: check 

Sealant: check 

There are a few things I did differently the second time around. 

The first time I let the kids have free reign over color choices on the wooden boards, although I did have to convince my then 6-year old that orange didn't inspire Christmas. Thankfully he agreed and went with a less obnoxious color. This time around I decided that I would pick the color scheme for the board but let them handle the snowmen. 

The first time I limited the snowmen colors but let the kids doodle as they wanted. Except for the littlest, he was three and I didn't want him to scribble all over it. 

The back was pieced together and it only leans. I could add a D-ring or a sawtooth hanger but I don't want to fuss with balancing the wooden pieces. This snowman print only comes out at Christmas so I haven't had trouble just leaning it up on the mantel.

I do like the free-standing version of the single plank. I prefer this over the pieced together version. 

 

We have a box of multi-color sharpies so I let the kids decorate their own snowmen this year. 

Here's a quick giphy on the process. 

Added some glitter paint.

Put the names and date on the back. 

And it's on the mantle for the remainder of winter. 

I think that the next time I do this project, or any project using my kiddos fingers, I'll make sure the board is longer. Spreading out the fingers/snowmen looks better in my opinion. And by the next time we do this project I'm sure my kids would love the space to draw in their own characters. It would be fun to have a Minecraft character or hamster drawn in between the snowmen. Allow them to personalize it as a snapshot of what they are into at that age. 

What mementos do/did you make with your kiddos?

And finally, someone came up with an idea that is close enough!

This is the March Pinterest Challenge where we celebrate and showcase our completed Pinterest projects. Stop by each blogger and celebrate with us!


 The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! This month, I chose to create snowmen fingers with my kids. To join next month's #pinterestchallenge, click here to sign-up ⇒ April Pinterest Challenge

Let's meet this month's Pinterest Challenge hosts!

Erlene - My Pinterventures  •  Jenny - Cookies Coffee and Crafts Debbee - Debbee's Buzz  •  Lynne - My Family Thyme  •  Pili - My Sweet Things Bri - Halfpint Design  •  Julie - Sum of their Stories Erin - The DIY Nuts  •  T'onna - Sew Crafty Crochet Beverly - Across the Boulevard •  Kristie - Love My Little Cottage Roseann - This Autoimmune Life  •  Terri - Our Good Life Ali - Home Crafts by Ali  •  Cherryl - Farm Girl Reformed Leslie - Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After •  Kelli - K's Olympic Nest Lauren - Mom Home Guide  •  Joanne - Our Unschooling Journey Shirley - Intelligent Domestications  •  Gail - Purple Hues and Me Audra -  Renewed Projects  •  Habiba - Craftify My Love Kristie - Teadoddles •  Marie - The Inspiration Vault  •  Susan - Suzerspace Lydia - Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen •  Maria - Simple Nature Decor Sam - Raggedy Bits  •  Emily - Domestic Deadline •  Marci - Stone Cottage Adeventures Alexandra - Eye Love Knots  •  Alayna - Alayna's Creations Terrie - Decorate and More with Tip

You can see my https://renewedprojects.blogspot.com/2019/03/snowmen-fingers-pinterest-project-and.html

Find the hosts' Pinterest Challenge Inspired Projects below ⇓⇓

An InLinkz Link-up