Salt dough foot and hand prints

A couple of weeks ago I had a go at doing some salt dough footprints and handprints of Max's teeny tiny gorgeous feet and hands.  It took a couple of attempts to get a really nice dough but the one I found to be best was the one with a higher amount of salt than flour.  

Here's the recipe:-

Mix 240g flour and 300g salt, gradually add up to 240ml of water.  Don't make it too wet!!

Here's what to do:-

Take a chunk of the mixture and roll it around in a bit of flour to get a really nice consistency, you don't want it to be sticky or it will stick to the baby's hand or foot. Mould in to the desired shape leaving it quite thick allowing for the imprint of the hand or foot.  Find a lovely little baby foot or hand (some babies won't let you do a hand print and will just grab the dough!) and push the foot or hand in to the dough.  I then cut around a lid of a cream cheese tub to get a nice shape (it's a good size for a babies foot)  Then if you'd like to hang your footprint use a drinking straw to push out one or two holes at the top of your plaque.  I then added Max's name around the edge of the dough shape using stamping letters and they show up really nicely.  When you're happy with your plaque you then have to leave it to dry which can take some time.  Either put it in the oven on a low heat (50oc) for a few hours or leave out in the sun as much as you can...my conservatory was a good place for drying!

When they were finally dry I then varnished them with a matt furniture varnish which didn't change the colour of them and just finished them off nicely and adds a protection that will stop then going mouldy over time.  I then tied a blue ribbon through the holes to allow me to hang them somewhere in the house...where is yet to be decided!

 Above and below: All dried, varnished and presented with ribbon ready to hang.

 I also did footprints of the babies in my NCT group!

Above:- Footprints of all the NCT babies

Baby photo shoot

Yesterday I went along to Mothercare to get some photos taken of Max.  It took an hour and Max loved the attention and the camera.  At the end of it I had the option of buying various photos and packages at very expensive prices.  I managed to leave having just purchased one photo.  The whole experience did make me want to have a go myself, so today I made my own mini studio in the bright conservatory and tried to re create some of the photos that we did yesterday but that I couldn't afford to buy.  Once again Max loved it (I think that shows in the pictures) and I am so pleased with the results :o)  I've been busy framing some of the photos this evening. 

I know I'm biased but boy isn't my boy scrummy!!!

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

My Mum and Dad celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary on Monday.  I decided to make them a card celebrating them and the family they have produced over those years in a family tree card.  

At the top is my mum and dad, then my brother, me and my sister and then underneath each of us the children we have....I have some catching up to do as my brother and sister both have three!!! ;o)

I used the saying "from Mighty Oaks tiny acorns grow" which I thought worked quite nicely until my dad pointed out that the saying is actually "Mighty Oaks from tiny acorns grow"..oops.  still you get the idea.

Jungle Canvas

I've finally finished the jungle canvas in Max's nursery, a project that I started when I was 6 months pregnant!!!! It's been hanging in the nursery un finished for the past 7 months since Max's arrival and every time I looked at it I felt bad for having not finished it, SO, a couple of evenings staying up until 2am and I did it!! Hurray!! 

Above:- Finally Finished!! Jungle canvas painted with acrylic paints and layered with a collage of papers to create the leaves and grass.

 Max has always been very interested in the canvas.  He loves to touch it and always smiles when I hold him near it.  I talk him through all the animals and tell him what noises they all make (although I get a little stuck when I get to the giraffe!) which always gets him laughing.

 The nursery has a  jungle theme and the canvas really is the centre piece. Max is also building a very nice little collection of jungle animal soft toys!

Above:- Max's Jungle room.

Now, what to do next ;o)