Advent Day 8: Make handprint ornaments (Also, bonus questions that I need your opinion on)

I tried doing handprint ornaments three years ago when Claire was a baby, and I remember being kind of flummoxed by the entire process. When I discovered that it's flat-out impossible to get a two-month-old to open her hand enough to get a hand print? POW! That project was over.

So, naturally, in 2011 I decided to try again. I don't know why I thought it'd be different. 

The instructions I found three years ago instructed me to use plaster of paris and a cottage cheese container (or similar) with the top two thirds cut off so it formed a shallow, round mold. Because I am not very good at reading a calendar and seeing what Advent activity comes next, we had to go to Hobby Lobby to buy plaster of paris this morning. 

We got home and I mixed it up and....it didn't really work. I mean, it set up and everything but I could never mix it to a state that wasn't either a very pourable liquid (too liquid-y to set a palm in to make a print) or it was waaaaaay thick and gloppy, like clay. I tried pouring it and letting it set to a semi-solid state and THEN doing the handprint but that never worked either. The plaster of paris didn't shift to allow the handprint. It cracked and big chunks were displaced. It didn't look good. It needed to be more dough-like but it was more like...mud? I think? 

After we'd made a giant mess and tried it a few different ways, I declared that this just wasn't going to work out. AGHHH. I think maybe tomorrow I will try a do-over and we will visit one of those paint your own pottery studios and do some handprint art there. Maybe a platter or something. Do they have ornaments at those places? Now, THAT would really be ideal. Hmmm. I've never been to one of those places before, but I bet Claire would dig it. I'll report back.

So, um, Day 7 was kind of a failure as we did not produce a single handprint ornament. (But, we tried! WE TRIED!)

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IN OTHER NEWS! 

This posting every day thing is kind of fun, but kind of exhausting. This is why I never do NaBloPoMo. GAH. 

Yesterday at Style Lush I asked some questions about curling wands.  Do you have one of these newfangled thingys? I am thinking about getting one. Because, you know, I have lots and lots of time to spend on my hair and I am looking for ways to spend MORE time on my hair. (Not really.) The comments over there are pretty positive and there is even a YouTube video link in the comments to an 18-year-old girl instructing people how to use a curling wand. It has 1.2 MILLION VIEWS. ABOUT A CURLING WAND. (Also, I am not sure I have any business using the same styling tools a high school girl does, OMG HOW OLD AM I AND WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?)

(I am totally buying all that hair product crap she used in the video.)

(More than a million views! Holy crap! I am in the wrong business.)

I am almost finished Christmas shopping. I think I have about four more things left to identify and buy, which is pretty good, I think! It's certainly satisfying. I have been taking a page from the Elizabeth school of Christmas and if I see something I like? I buy it! And I'm going to wrap it up for myself or put it in my stocking. It is very fun to buy yourself Christmas presents. You should all give that a try.

After much internal discussion I bought the silver reindeer at Target. (Two of 'em!) They look awesome on my mantle.

I want a new lens for my DSLR. I have a Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-105 mm 1: 3.5-4.5. I have no idea what those numbers mean but they are on the lens and maybe they are important? I don't know. I like this lens. I got it in 1997 as a high school graduation gift for my 35mm Canon Rebel (also vintage 1997). The problem with this lens is that 1) It's really HEAVY and 2) I would like something that is good for macro, close-up purposes and I have no idea where to even really start looking or what Google keywords to use or what blogs or websites to visit to find out. Anyone care to help me out? If you just tell me what to buy that would be best as research on this topic sounds incredibly boring. 

I am thinking about buying some fabric for Claire's bedroom window and I can't decide. What do you like best for the Land of Nod Circles quilt? Her walls are light pink.

Here's the quilt and this is pretty much what it looks like in her room, but her walls are very light pink.

Here are the swatches I'm considering. I won't tell you which is my favorite becuase I don't want to influence you. What would YOU buy?

 

Comments

[BigP's Heather]

This is the first year that BigP has caught on to the fact that I buy and wrap myself gifts. He always buys me A gift. Just like when we were dating, or newly married and poor...but now with Santa and K, we all get several gifts. He never questioned all his or my gifts before...until this year. Sigh.

Not that I will let that stop me.

I never tried that plaster stuff. Hmmm

I did see a really cute idea about using a foot and hands (for the antlers) and putting a little red dot on the heel for rudolph's nose and I want to do that with K.

[Arina]

We'll be making a handprint ornament on a glass ornament with embossing powder. Glad to have a backup plan with the pottery studio. You know, I'm having fun with the advent projects, but it is a scramble to stay one step ahead with the projects I've got lined up...

I really like the turquoise with white dots.

[Elizabeth]

Last year Eli's preschool class made hand print ornaments, but it was just paint on a plaster circle.
I love buying myself presents! I want to buy another one right now! Go presents!
Also, um, I am not loving any of those fabrics, don't be mad! I am seeing something pinker in my head.

[Erin]

I like the teal with white polka dots.

I just did the handprint thing with a kit I got that had this weird puffy marshmallowy stuff that came in a foil packet and didn't need to be mixed up or anything (sadly, it was a gift and I do not know where it came from). It sort of worked. I mean, it looks like crap, but there's a handprint there. Probably not something I'll try to repeat with the next kid though.

[Megan]

My daycare does this really cute handprint thing with white paint and a red ball ornament. THey just did fingers and made snowmen out of them last year (black hats and faces), but I would even like just the handprint. It was my favorite Christmas gift last year. I'm thinking we might do this as something to go with the grandparent's gifts!

I don't love any of those fabrics. I think I would try to do a stripe, with a bunch of those colors. My daughter's bedspread is pink and green polka dots and her window treatmens are a tie up shades with a valance in front. The valance piece is a floral that coordinates with the stripe in the tie up. It took me forever to figure it out though.

Sorry. I have nothing on the curling wand. I would burn myself. And want to give up halfway through.

[rachel]

i like the green dot one. : )

[elz]

WE made handprint ornaments last year the easy way-you paint the kids' hand white, have them wrap their hand around a ball ornament and use permanent markers to turn it into snowman. Like this- http://elzabelz.blogspot.com/2010/12/merry-christmas-etc.html

Highly recommend.

I like the blue and white circles.

[HereWeGoAJen]

I think I am another one who doesn't love any of those fabrics. It's like they match, but not well enough. They either need to be more like the circles on the bedspread or not circley at all. Mind you, I suck at matching things, so take this with a grain of salt.

I also want a new lens for my camera, so please let me know what you decide upon.

I am also not very good at reading the Advent calendar in advance, so I've only been putting them in a day or two in advance at most. I think my record was at the beginning of this week when I made up our weekly calendar and put in four days worth. I think next year when Elizabeth is more notice-y, I will have to be more organized. I mean, right now, she doesn't notice that all the mittens are hanging there empty.

[craftyashley]

Blue with white dots- totally. Have I told you how in love with that bedding I am? I'm always replacing the girls bedding because I never really like what I get. But the circles?! I love it. Am also jealous.

[Holly]

I would go stripe for the curtains, the circles are too competing with the bedspread.

Curling wand? No suggestions - I have hair that alternates between frizzy waves and general 'beachy' look, so I lean more toward blowing it out straight with a giant roundbrush if I am doing anything fancy.

We did Clara's handprint in plaster on her 1st birthday, but it was a provided kit thingy - it worked well, just followed their recipe. Had to try it a couple times to get it right, and it wasn't very deep, but it's there. There was a very short time frame in which to do this. The school always does painted handprints, I think it's just easier until they're older.

[Mama Bub]

I am a die hard curling iron girl, and I have so much hair that I think I would just burn my fingertips right off if I tried one of those curling irons.

I vote for the curtain fabric on the top left.

[Salome Ellen]

Another vote for the teal with white. None of this is "my style", but the teal just goes well, I think.