Fingerprint Heart Magnet for Mother's Day

On Friday, I shared an idea for a homemade Mother's Day heart magnet for one child to give to Mom. Today's idea, featuring fingerprint hearts, can be made by a group of siblings (for Mom) or cousins (for Grandma). Or, you can do like I did and include Mom and Dad to make a family heart. Affiliate links below. 

Fingerprint Heart Magnet for Mother's Day

Materials:

• wooden heart
• Folk Art paint
• ultra fine Sharpies
• magnet tape

Steps: 

Paint the background - a blue sky and green grass. 

When that is dry, add fingerprint roses floating above the grass. To make the rose, add one fingerprint at a 45° angle to the left, then add a second fingerprint at a 45° angle to the right. It is easiest to do with a pointer finger. Use a pinky finger if you need smaller hearts to fit in more people. 

When the fingerprints are dry, paint stems and leaves under each flower. Then use a Sharpie to write each person's name above their flower. I added a dashed border around the edges to finish my heart. 

The final step is adding magnet tape to the back. Display your art on the refrigerator for everyone to enjoy. 

Kidding Around: Fingerprint Art

Trevor was so excited to get the email from Kidding Around saying that Day 13's activity was Fingerprint Art. I've mentioned before how much he LOVES fingerprint art. I love it too!

We used Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book for ideas (affiliate link). I love how Trevor's artwork turned out.  My favorite part is that he replaced the R's in his title with fish.  So cute!

 

Here's mine:

Even though we've done fingerprint art dozens of times before, it's been awhile. I love that the Kidding Around prompts are leading us to both try new things and revisit old favorites.

The Cursive Project: Peacock

For Letter P of The Cursive Project, Trevor chose peacock. Trevor is very familiar with peacocks, as there is a large flock (200+) that lives right around his school. It is not uncommon for them to be blocking the sidewalk as we walk to school, or hanging out on a neighbor's lawn (or their roof). Traffic has to stop frequently because they stand around in the street. They're awesome, as long as you aren't in a hurry or the one who has to clean 200 peacock droppings off your lawn. I never am, so I like them.

My plan for our craft was to start by dipping coffee filters in diluted paint, just like in our Coffee Filter Turkey project. I watered down some turquoise, green, and yellow paints, folded my coffee filter and dipped.  

I explained to Trevor that we'd let the coffee filters dry, then use fingerprints to make the eyes on the feathers. Trevor didn't like that idea. He hates getting dirty. He's done a few cute fingerprint and handprint crafts over the years, thank goodness, but sometimes he is not in the mood to get paint on his hands. He chose to paint his coffee filter instead. Fine by me. 

(Wearing jammies because we did this early in the a.m. to allow lots of drying time.)

I proceeded with the fingerprint step. I started by using my thumb to make dark blue spots all the way around the coffee filter.

I used my ring finger to add yellow dots on top of those. 

Then I used my pinkie to add a dots of green. 

While the paint was drying on the tail feathers, we prepared the other body parts. We used blue cardstock to cut a bowling-pin shaped body, and light brownish grey to make a a triangle beak, and a pair of legs. We also gathered two googly eyes and a blue feather. 

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I store my cardstock scraps by color. It was really easy to pull out a bunch of shades of blues and brown/greys to choose from.

Here is my assembled peacock: 

This is Trevor's: 

What a fun project! I like both the fingerprint version and Trevor's painted version. On to Letter Q!

Fingerprint Flower Magnet for Mother's Day

Every mom I know loves gifts that are handmade by their children. This heart-shaped refrigerator magnet features a child's fingerprints, turned into roses. Affiliate links below. 

Fingerprint Flower Magnet for Mother's Day

Materials:

• wooden heart
• Folk Art paint
• ultra fine Sharpies
• magnet tape

Steps: 

Paint the background of the heart with your desired colors. I made a blue wall and a white tabletop, but you can choose whatever colors you want. Then add a vase toward the right side of the heart. Mine is yellow.

When that is dry, add fingerprint flowers in the space above the vase. If a young child is doing this, they can use their pointer finger. If the child is older with fingers that are less petite, you might want to use the pinky finger. Then use a brush to paint a heart onto the vase.

When the fingerprints are dry, paint medium green leaf shapes in and around the flowers. Don't fill in all the spaces at first. Leave room to add dark green shapes. While I was waiting for the green paint to dry, I added a grey shadow and some texture to the tabletop. This is optional. 

When all the paint is dry, write "Happy Mother's Day!" on the left side using a Sharpie. I added a dashed border around the edges as a final touch. Then turn the heart over and add a strip of magnet tape.

This project is easily adapted for many other holidays and occasions. Birthdays, Valentine's Day, and even graduation come to mind. Just change out the message!

Fingerprint Penguin Thank You Cards

For this year's thank you notes, Trevor make fingerprint penguins. They're quick and easy to do, assembly-line style. If your kids' thank you notes are already done, simply add a different sentiment to the card or make it as a flat piece of art.

Fingerprint Penguin Thank You Cards

Materials:

• white card blanks
• light blue cardstock
• scissors
• black construction paper
• white paint
• orange paint
• black sharpie
• craft glue

Steps:

1. Fold the card blank and orient it as a vertical card. Cut a piece of light blue cardstock slightly smaller than the card blank. Cut a hill shape from the bottom of the cardstock. Glue it to the front of the card. 

2. Cut an oval penguin body from the black construction paper. Aim for about the size of a chicken egg.

3. Dip your thumb in white paint, then stamp it on the black oval to make the penguin's white tummy.

4. Use your pinky to make the penguin's eyes.

5. Wipe the excess white paint from your pinky, then dip it in the orange paint. Add a beak and two feet. Let the paint dry completely. 

6. Use the sharpie to add pupils to the penguin's eyes. 

7. Glue the penguin to the card and write the sentiment.   

Each of Trevor's penguins has its own unique personality. This would make a really fun project for a classroom or daycare bulletin board. Imagine how adorable it would be to have many children's penguins all on display together!

Fingerprint Family Christmas Tree

This festive Christmas tree centerpiece is a special keepsake because each portion is decorated with a different family member's fingerprints! Look closely at the base - each person signed their name. Since the two wood pieces come apart, the tree is really easy to store. I wasn't able to find the same tree I used, but there's one I like even better in the materials list. Affiliate links below. 

Fingerprint Family Christmas Tree

Materials:

• wooden Christmas tree
• Folk Art paint: Bright Green, Teddy Bear Brown, and Treasure Gold
• Sharpies

Steps:

Paint the wood tree pieces and let them dry completely. 

There is space for up to 8 family members to participate per tree. Each tree is made up of two wooden pieces, each with a front and a back, each of which can be divided into left and right. Below, you can see that I signed my name at the left-hand side of one base, then used my fingers to add dots of paints only on the left-hand side of the tree. Someone else will fill in the right-hand side, while two other people do the same with the other wooden piece. 

After those front four sections are dry, the last four family members can complete the left and right sides of the backs of the two trees. 

After all the paint is dry, assemble it to create an 8-sided tree with each family member's name at the bottom. 

I suggest buying multiple trees to allow for your family to expand. As inlaws, children, or others join the family, have them add their signature and fingerprints. Over time, you'll have a priceless keepsake that preserves wonderful memories of those with whom you've celebrated Christmas. 

The Best of 2024

Each December, I go back through all the projects I've made that year and pick out my favorites. It's a lot of fun to see everything I've made over a 12-month period. I almost always find that by the time December rolls around, I've completely forgotten what I made the previous January!

This was an unusual year, in terms of my crafting. First, my cancer diagnosis and treatment significantly reduced the amount of time I spent making stuff. I took six weeks off from blogging over the summer, which is potentially 30 projects that I otherwise would have made. Second, this year I've done a lot of posts that are travel-related (in addition to my usual trip reports). They include things like Fun Facts About US Airports and the State Name Quiz, as well as this book/puzzle review of Subpar Parks. I've focused on travel roundups, too, like the ones about the best Black History Museums or my favorite quirky museums. Finally, I've shared 38 (and counting!) pages I've colored using different art materials, which was time I wasn't making kids crafts or scrapbook layouts. 

With all that said, let's take a look at what I did make, starting with my favorite kids crafts from 2024:

Crayon Melt State Fruits

Atari Breakout Name Art

Salt Dough State Flag Heart Magnets

Grieving Tree

Cowboy Boot Craft

Mother's Day Fingerprint Magnet

Robin Diamond Art Ornament

These are my favorite scrapbook layouts from 2024:

A Taste of New Orleans

Grad Nite

Land (check!) Water (check!) Sky (check!) 

Licensed Driver

Congrats, You're An Aggie!

Celebrating 52 in Chinatown

Brayden's Adoption Announcement

I'm looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings, creatively speaking!

Finger Painting Pineapple

Until yesterday, I had never done an entire painting using just my fingers. Well, maybe I did when I was a toddler. I don't remember. I've done a lot of fingerprint and handprint art over the years, but with those I used a brush at some point, decorated the painted part with pens, or otherwise did something other than just painting with my fingers.  

I challenged myself to paint a pineapple in my sketchbook (next to the gouache strawberries) using nothing but my fingers. Actually, I put a few more restrictions on myself. Because I would be taking process photos, I needed one hand to stay paint-free so I didn't mess up my camera. I also wanted to finish the painting without interruption, which meant I couldn't get up to wash my hands, nor could I set the project aside to let a layer dry. I intentionally didn't put anything nearby on which I could wipe my hands. I did allow myself to do a rough pencil sketch before I started. 

What you see here is a pineapple painted wet-on-wet with the four fingers of my left hand, which I didn't clean or wipe even when changing colors. It was a challenge, which was the whole point. 

Finger Painting Pineapple

Materials: 

• sketchbook
• acrylic paint (green, yellow, brown, and turquoise)

Steps: 

I used my pinky finger and some green paint to draw diagonal lines onto the pineapple, first one direction and then the other. This was really difficult. I don't have good pinky control (possibly due to the fact that I've broken that finger a couple of times, or maybe I just have a weak pinky). Fortunately, most of this would be covered, so it didn't really matter. 

 

I switched to my index finger for the crown. I made swooping motions in green from the base outward, which is what you see below.

I added a bit of brown to the crown, trying to get some shadow. After that, I dunked my index finger into the turquoise in a surprisingly effective attempt to dilute the green and the brown already on my finger. Then I painted the background. It was really hard getting between the leaves of the crown; quite a few got covered, as you can see. It was also hard to get right up to the edge of the paper without getting any paint on the strawberry side. I did my best, but had to mop up small mistake with my ring finger. 

I mixed a little bit of brown into the yellow (yes, with my finger) and stamped fingerprints into each of the white gaps between the original green lines. Then I dipped into plain yellow and re-stamped the areas in the upper right to add a subtle highlight. I touched up the crown with my pinky finger, which actually worked better than my index finger had. I mixed a small amount of yellow into the green to add some highlights on the left. 

The last step was (finally) washing my hands. This was such a fun challenge and definitely something I'd like to try again.