Reindeer Christmas Craft

Yesterday my older daughter asked to do a craft with handprints.

(Actually, first she used a magenta marker to coat her palms, got frustrated when they didn't make handprints, stomped around a little, THEN she asked to do a craft with handprints...... ahem... where were we?)

Oh yes, the craft with handprints. So here's what you'll need:

• a canvas big enough to accommodate your largest kiddo's foot + a few inches for antlers
• pom-poms for noses
• paint (background color + 2 colors of brown)
• a Sharpie marker
• pom-poms for eyes or googly eyes
• small jingle bells
• ribbon
• some sort of Christmas decoration-type stuff to fill space on your canvas. I used snowflake ornaments from the dollar store

Most of that stuff I had on hand or had in my dollar-store stash.

First, paint your canvas. I didn't bother with the edges since I was planning to put ribbon around the sides. Next, find your little ones. Paint one foot on each kiddo and stamp it. Then paint both hands and have them make "antlers" for their reindeer. It actually works better if it's a little haphazard, so don't worry if it's smudgy.
(Kind of looks like a mess here. But don't worry. It's all going in the right direction!)

Next, get out your Sharpie marker and outline. This gives some definition to your shape, and it gives you a chance to make your antlers really look like antlers.

Next we start gluing like crazy (hot glue worked well). I added:

• red pom-poms for noses
• eyes
• jingle bells on the antlers

Then get out the ribbon and glue it all around the edge. I added a big bow at the top, and since I have 2 little girls I put bows on both reindeer.

It still needed something, so I glued on some fluffy snowflakes from the dollar store.

There you go. A fun, easy, cheap Christmas project!