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?

Image result for pinterest did it button

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!Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop

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 ⇓⇓


Comments

  1. Adorable! We have so many treasures from when the kids were little and I love them all. There's really nothing quite as precious as tiny finger crafts, is there?

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    1. Right? And having a couple years gap between the fingerprints really shows how big their hands have gotten. Errrrr, or how much the snowmen have grown! lol

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  2. it is lovely! now it is beautiful decoration, but I am sure in few years time it will be precious little treasure for all of you :)

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    1. It most certainly will be! Especially when my boys grow their man sized hands.

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  3. Very cute! I've been thinking I need more handprint crafts for my kids before they are grown. The snowmen look great and the kids names on the back is priceless, this will be a wonderful keepsake.

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  4. What a fun, sentimental project for the entire family to do! Great idea! I don't think there were too many ideas like this when my son was a baby way back when! Lol! But it would be fun to do with grand kids, too!

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    1. That is a cute idea! I bet the grand kids would have fun doing a fingerprint project with you.

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  5. How adorable this is Audra! Even for a Grandma this would be an awesome craft to do. Thank you for sharing.

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  6. I want to do this with my grandsons. I'm sure I'll enjoy seeing it year after year as much as I enjoy pulling out the Christmas ornaments their mother and uncle made when they were little.

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    1. That would be a cute idea! I bet they'd have fun comparing the size of their hands to their mom's when she was their age.

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  7. Little hands and finger crafts are among my favorites, especially from the Grands. I currently have a door jam full of pencil marks from watching the Grandchildren grow. It happens far to quickly. Those marks on the wall are not nearly as fun as these adorable finger snowmen.

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    1. I'm all for killing two birds with one stone: quality time with the kids and a cute momento!

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  8. That's so cute and clever! My youngest is 15 now, and I miss doing projects like that with him!

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    1. My youngest is five now but I bet those ten years are going to fly by and I'll be saying the same thing as you.

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  9. I was the same way with our "traditions". Not sure why it was so hard but couldn't quite stick with doing the same thing year-to-year. I've seen finger print art before and think it is super cute. Another I saw is a cut out of a child's picture blowing and then cut out hearts of different sizes glued onto the board to illustrate blowing kisses. Loved it! Fun project and great gift idea.

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    1. Right? Its hard to commit to one idea when there are soooooo many fun one's out there to try!

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  10. What a cute idea, i have grandkids so this is perfect.

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  11. I love this project! This will be a wonderful thing to save for years to come. So cute!

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  12. How cute! Looks like your kids had a lot of fun!

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  13. What a great kids craft. I think it looks perfect, no need to spread it out wider...well maybe as your childrens fingers get bigger. Pinning.

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  14. What a fun way to create a keepsake for the family. It would be fun to one day put all the pieces together to see the kids' growth.

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  15. This is adorable! I used to take the kids to a pottery place every year to do something with their hand or finger prints, I love that you can easily do this from home.

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