Thumb Print Heart Charms

The girls have loved having numerous snow days in a row, which has provided us with lots of crafting opportunities....otherwise known boredom busters. We started with something simple that later morphed into beading necklaces and kept us occupied for quite some time. Since paint was not involved in most of it, I was able to take pictures of the steps. So this is for all the moms who have crafty kids home with them on snow days!

Supplies: 

Sculpty Clay (the kind you can bake to harden)

BBQ skewers

Parchment Paper

Acrylic Paint and brushes

Beads

Strings

Wire (optional)

Step one: Flatten out a  small section of the clay on parchment paper. Take one of the child's thumbs and press it into the clay. Take the other thumb and match it up to make a thumbprint heart. 

Step 2: Take your BBQ skewer and trace around the thumbprints to make a heart, while trimming away the access clay. (I helped the kids with this part).

Step 3: Pat down the rough edges of the clay and reform if necessary to make a more defined heart shape. Take the non pointed end of the skewer and poke a hole through the heart. 

Step 4: Preheat the oven to 275 and bake the hearts on parchment paper for 15 minutes. 

Step 5: Allow the hearts to cool for 10 minutes and then paint. Acrylic paint worked well on ours. 

Step 6: After the paint dries, string the heart with beads to make a necklace or bracelet. I noticed that the hearts were not quite hanging flat, so I used some wire to fashion a loop through the hole of the heart. It was easier to string and laid flatter. I liked the project so much I had the girls imprint their thumbs into a heart for me. I put their names and the date on the back. It could also be a good grandma or Mother's Day gift too. Hope you give it a try!