Hands Up If You Like Salt Dough Handprints

Zara's finished salt dough handprint.

Back in December I did a post called Crafting with Kids that showed how to make salt dough. At that time, Zara did a handprint plaque (I may have helped a little). And, yeah, I'm just getting around to posting it. Where did the time go?

Ingredients:

• Salt dough plaque (Go here for the instructions.)
• Silver & black acrylic paint
• Mod Podge or your favorite sealer
• Paint brushes
• Paper towel
• Ribbon
• Sharpie or other permanent marker

I really wanted this to look like some archeologist dug it out of a cave. Like some prehistoric toddler was making mud pies. I started by painting the whole thing with silver acrylic paint. Be careful to not put it on too thick. You'll lose the details in the handprint.

Apply a thin coat of silver paint.

 Allow the paint to dry thoroughly, overnight if possible. Then apply a coat of black, getting into the details, in small patches. Wipe off with a paper towel immediately. Don't wipe too much, the silver might come off. If it does, just touch it up and let it dry again. Work quickly so the paint doesn't dry before you can get it buffed off.

The black paint shows the details and ages the plaque.

Again, let the whole thing dry well. Write the child's name and the date on the back with a permanent marker. Give the plaque two coats of Mod Podge, letting it dry in between coats.

Sealing the plaque will preserve it for years to come.

After the it's dry, thread a piece of ribbon through the hole to hang it on a wall. And that's it. Easy, no?