Handmade Surprise in My Email!

After starting a discussion on my facebook fan page , I received some photos in my email from my cousin! She was telling me stories about all the handmade ornaments on her tree. She uses them every year, and some are thirty years old! I thought I would share her special ornaments with you...



Packed with handmade ornaments!



Each handmade ornament holds a special memory...

What about you? Do you have a special handmade tradition for the holidays? If you'd like to share with me and have your story or photo featured on my blog, send me an email! happydaystudio@gmail.com

Forever Handprint Ornaments

While searching through the Christmas Tree Shop, for something completely unimportant but something I'm sure I NEEDED to have (haha), I came across some ornament kits in a clearance bin. They were only $1.99 - sweet deal!! Handprint ornament kits....

I'd never worked with plaster before, but these seemed like the perfect special gift to give to my son's grandparents! The kits came with plastic molds and little bags of plaster that you mix with water. I added too much water by accident, so I had to let the molds set for much longer than the instructions recommended before my son could stick his hand in... (It was a soppy plastery mess! Ewww!)

Eventually the molds did start to harden, and my son had a blast while I pressed each of his fingers into the plaster. He seemed very excited when he lifted his hand out, and the impression of his hand was still there :)

After the molds were dry (I left them out overnight), I carefully popped them out of the plastic. The plaster was super smooth and bright white! I gave my son some red and green acrylic paint, and let him paint in the hands. He was very meticulous, and made sure to get inside each finger!

When he was done, I went around the edges with contrasting color paint just to give them an extra boost. I made sure to leave his markings intact! When the paint was dry (which was only a few minutes), I had him write his name on the back of each one with a permanent black marker. I added his age and the date. If I had more time in my holiday rush, I would have loved to seal them with an acrylic sealer... But they turned out just fine anyway.

The molds allowed for a hole in the top, and I strung them with ribbon. The grandparents loved them!! When my mother opened hers, she took my son into my old bedroom and showed him a plaque on the wall... It was an ink handprint I had made in kindergarten, same age as my son is now. It was very special.  Perfect memories - worth much more than that $2.00! :)

Handmade Christmas ReCap!

Hi everyone! Happy Christmas! :)
I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

This year, I tried my hardest NOT to have my annual Christmas-mental-stress-breakdown. I did get a bit rushed during the last week, but I made peace with the fact that I couldn't possibly get everything finished. (ex: sending out my Xmas cards!! They are still on my counter, after a failed attempt at getting them printed at a certain huge chain store.. rrgh I'm still fuming!) I did, however, make a few gifts that I will share with you in my posts this week!

Cutest wrapping paper ever!

I'll have these stories and more: kids super-duper Christmas cookie party, painted plaster handprint ornaments, paper 3D houses, painted wine glasses, etc!

My boy surrounded by happy handmade goodness!



As the year comes to a close, I'm also thinking about the future of my happy day studio and where I will take things from here. I would love to reopen but there will be some changes to make my processes speedier and more effecient. I am really excited about what I have in mind, and I'll share it with you soon!

For now, I'm cozied up at home during a snowstorm. I'm enjoying my Christmas tree and all the lights before they come down on New Years. Stay warm and crafty!

xoxo
~Kelly