Baby Handprint Crafts

Make a Baby Footprint Poem

This is a great baby keepsake to keep for yourself or give away to family. Here's what you'll need:

- The printed poem. We've created a few sample poems and layouts below, which you can use for free. Or you can make your own, or find more on ebay or other retailers. It's a good idea to print out two or three times as many sheets as you'll need, in case a few of the baby prints end up looking more like smears. It's also helpful to have a few blank sheets of paper on hand for practice.
- Water based paint
- a dish to hold the paint
- a sponge or brush to apply the paint to your baby's foot
- Optional: a photograph of your baby to paste onto the sheet

To start, get your baby comfortable in a highchair or basinet near you and the work area where you'll be creating the baby footprint poem. You'll need to have access to your baby's feet and hands. Some people prefer to have their baby in a highchair, then press the paper to the baby's foot. Others hold the child in their lap, then stand up with the baby in their arms and use a free hand to press the baby's foot on to the paper lying on the table. Take a moment to practice pressing your baby's foot (or hand) on to a blank piece of paper. The easier this is for the both of you, the better your poem will look. Once you've found the most comfortable way for both of you, then it's time for paint.

Paint your baby's foot with the water based paint using either a brush or a sponge.

While the paint is still wet, get the printout of the poem, and either press it against your baby's foot, or put it on a flat surface and press your baby's foot against it. Be sure to press lightly. It may take a few tries to get a good print, which will mean repainting your baby's foot a few times. If the foot gets too wet, the paint drips. If this happens, grab a blank piece of paper, do a quick imprint, then immediately to a second imprint on the printed out poem. Depending on the thickness of the paint, sometimes the second imprint looks best.

After you've got a few good prints, clean up your baby next. After they are cleaned up and content, then go back to the prints.

If you want, you can just pick your favorite print, pin it up on the wall, and be done. It might be nice to write the date and the baby's name on the bottom of the print. You could also paste a photograph of your baby on the sheet. And if you want to frame the footprint to give as a gift, most stationary stores, gift stores and even department stores have lots of affordable frames to choose from. If you are going to frame the baby footprint poem, try to maintain a one or two inch border around the outside of the sheet - it makes framing much easier and more attractive.




Click on the images or links below to download an 8.5 x 11 pdf that you can print out on your computer.

Click here to download the same sheet as directly above, but with a "sans serif" font.	Click here to download the same sheet as directly above, but with a "sans serif" font.

|



© 2006 City Different Marketing