Kids Made This: Fingerprint Pendants

I found a neat-o tutorial on Crafty Crow, just in time for Mother's Day last week- little balls of sculpting clay are rolled flat then imprinted with your darlings' fingerprints. Poke holes in the top, bake, and there you have it! She strung hers on bits of fancy silk cord, but I tried my hand at the popular "dog tags with a pretty bead" style that's making the rounds right now. (See Vintage Pearl for some great examples.)

I couldn't remember what the instructions said when I was at the craft store, so I got Fimo clay- it's a little stiffer, but has nicer colors.  Sculpey would have been easier on the kids' fingers, because it's a tad softer.  The prints themselves might have shown up a bit better, too.  I still like these a lot, though...and maybe it's safer to not send exact replicas of my kids' fingerprints out into the world?  Can't help it- I'm paranoid, it's true.

I kept the orange one for myself- the gold bead set went to Nana, the red bead (the last one above) went to Grandma S (my mom.)  Happily, they were well received- my mom put hers on straight away and said it was like continuing the legacy!  For as long I can remember, she's worn a bracelet set and a necklace that Aunt LoLo and I made in school about 20 years ago now.  Hmm...I didn't see them yesterday, perhaps she's decided we're finally old enough that she can stop wearing our grade school art?  Or maybe they simply composted away in her jewelry box, they were made of white bread and glue smashed together into clay, with tempura paint for color...oh well, she has a shiny new Mother's Day necklace now, and a little birdy told me that Aunt LoLo sent a pretty spiffy gift too!  Mwahaha- our mother will be wearing our handmade creations every Mother's Day for the rest of her life.  And I think she likes it that way *grin*   You have to know this about my mom- she ADORES children's art.  She still has projects, like dolls and weavings, on the wall that my college-graduate brother made in grade school.  She'll keep a drawing on the fridge until the color has completely faded away.

Now, the only problem with this gift is that Ernie is convinced that SHE made it, and wants to know what I gave my mom for Mother's Day?

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!