As I previously shared in my posting, 12 Projects For 2012, I have been wanting to make canvas art out of my baby’s hand and footprints. The inspiration came to me as I assembled a hand and footprint calendar for the grandmas in our family.

This was such a fun and simple keepsake project, I thought I would take this opportunity to share it with you!

First, I decided what prints I wanted to create. I decided that butterflies and ladybugs would be the cutest for my baby’s room. Inspiration for hand and footprint art can be found HERE.

Then I purchased my supplies; a set of nine 3″ x 3″ premade canvases and acrylic paints.

I put my oldest daughter to work and got her to paint the background colour on the canvases.

After the background colour had dried, I had my husband hold my daughter while I painted her feet and pressed them onto the canvas (this was for the butterfly art).

I then painted the palm of her hand and pressed it onto the canvas (this was for the ladybug art).

I embellished each print with antennae (and spots for the ladybugs).

Lastly, I put my daughter’s name and the date on the back of the canvas art.

Simple, frugal, and an adorable keepsake to hang in my daughter’s nursery.

Jennifer Bly

Author of My Kitchen, My Classroom: An Introduction to Homeschool and creator of The Deliberate Mom. Jennifer writes about parenting, homeschooling, her faith, and life with her husband and two girls. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration Degree with a specialization in Early Learning in Child Care.