Footprint Thank-You Cards Craft

Tell your kid to step on it!

Submitted by
Laura

Saying "thank you" to all your friends and relatives for all the awesome baby gifts they bought you shouldn't cost you more than the gifts themselves. Employ a little child labor and get the baby to help you craft cheaper, cuter and far more personal stationery than you'll find at the card store.

Your baby:
And his appendages—feet work best, but hands will work if you're quick on the draw as he reaches for his mouth.
Card stock:
Find a zillion colors at your local crafts store. Look for the pre-creased kind for easy folding. Many even come with matching envelopes.
Nontoxic paint:
Tempera paint applied with a brush is great.
Paintbrush
Embellishments:
Glitter, ribbon, lace, buttons, bows, scrapbook stickers, etc.
Baby wipes or wet paper towels:
For cleaning off your budding designer.

Hold baby's hand or foot gently but firmly away from the rest of him.
Carefully apply a layer of paint to his foot or hand.
Bring the stationery to his hand or foot and press to mark it. You might have to roll the hand or foot slightly to get a complete image.
Wipe off baby's hand or foot with a baby wipe or a paper towel.
Repeat until baby gets cranky or you have enough cutely stamped stationery to send notes to all your second cousins.
When your cards dry (and your baby goes down for a nap), spend some time dressing up your stationery with some embellishments. If you're feeling really ambitious, use your computer's printer to design and print some fancy letters to spell out "thank you" or your baby's name to glue onto the front of the card.
Be the envy of all your relatives with your handmade look-how-cute-my-kid-is-and-how-clever-I-am stationery.