This year for Halloween I wanted to do something special with Miss Priss. She is still small and does not really know how to do much crafting yet, but I wanted to remember this year with her.
I have seen many different ways of imprinting footprints as keepsakes, but then I saw this! It is a great memory of her little feet on her first year or trick-or-treating and will also serve as a Halloween decoration for many years to come.
I didn't get this completed in time to put it out this year because well, life just got in the way...but, it is ready to go for next year and I can't wait to put it out and show Miss Priss what her little feet looked like. And next year, I will have another little ghost to add to the decor!
This is such a simple project that can be done with things that are easy to find and that you might already have at home. This can be done with older kids as well...you just might only be able to fit one footprint rather than both.
BOO Footprints Sign
You will need:
- chalk board
- white acrylic paint
- acrylic paint for wording in whatever color you like
- paintbrush(s)
- black paint for eyes (I used a paint pen)
- your baby's feet
- stencil for lettering
- ribbon (for bow on girl ghost)
- hot glue gun (for ribbon)
- Fray Check (for ribbon)
I got my chalkboard at Hobby Lobby, but I did also see them at Wal-Mart! The ones at Wal-Mart were a bit cheaper and the only thing that I noticed what that if you were actually going to use them as chalk boards they might not be that great, but for this project I actually think the ones at Wal-Mart would work better than the ones at Hobby Lobby because they had a much smoother looking dark black color to them AND they are much lighter in weight so if you wanted to add ribbon to the back and hang it on the wall it would be perfect.
Paint the bottom of your baby's feet with the white paint. Make sure to cover the entire foot and you may even use a scrap piece of paper to see how it will turn out and how much pressure you want to apply before putting it on your chalkboard.
I wanted a ribbon on one of Miss Priss feet to make a girl ghost and so I used my Fray Check on the ends to keep it from fraying and made a ribbon for her hair and hot glued it onto the foot. This actually worked out really well since there was a little mess up with the heel of the second ghost and I was able to cover it with the ribbon. You have to make sure that your little one is being cooperative while you do this or you might have an odd shaped ghost!
I then used black paint pens to make circle eyes on each of the ghosts. You could use a paintbrush, but I didn't really trust my shaky hands with that small of a circle. You might even be able to use a black sharpie as well, but I didn't try that?!
Using my Cricut, I cut out a stencil for my wording and taped it to the chalkboard before I began painting. If you trust your freehand painting go for it!
I used purple paint so that everything was not orange and black, and because purple is my favorite color of course. For those of you from Oklahoma, I am a Sooner and so orange and black, even at Halloween, is hard for me to cover my house in.
I painted my letters within the stencils trying to make sure not to let it bleed under the paper.
Once it was dry, I took off the stencil and went over the purple paint slowly by hand to make it darker and to make sure that the lines of my letters were straight. The number of times you will have to do this will depend on the color of paint and chalkboard that you choose. If you are using orange, you probably wont have any issues with being able to see it though.
And for remembrance sake, I also used a paint pen to record Miss Priss's name and the date that we took this cutie footprints.
Once you have your painting done and it has dried you can decide if you want to hang it or place it on a shelf or easel. You could add some ribbon or twine to the back and hang it on the wall or as a door hanger or just sit it on the shelf or mantle.
This was a very simple and cheap project, but it holds memories that will be used for many years and can be passed on a little easier than a footprint on a piece of paper from daycare.
