How to - Hnadprint Family Tree

For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to capture my family’s hand prints before my kids are too grown up (a little late, but better late than never right? – Hey, they didn’t have Pinterest when my son was little ^__<) so they took me to a local craft shop where you can paint pottery and they will fire it for you.  The local shop in town is called Crackpots, but I have seen many variations of this type of thing.  It’s a lot of fun, but pricy so we don’t get to go very often.  Still, for this gift, I got to pick a large plate and decided I wanted to make a family tree.

I got the idea from Pinterest.  How cute is this?

I wanted to share with you how I made it, in case you were inspired.  I hope you like it!

First I started with a light pencil outline for the whimsical tree shape I wanted.  Then I filled this in with dark brown paint (feel free to choose whatever color scheme best fits you).  I tried to make sure I couldn’t see any paint brush streaks, but I missed a few.

Next, I started with my husband’s hand as it is the largest.  After discussing where I wanted his hand to end up, I painted his entire palm liberally with a shade of green.  I pressed his palm to the plate, making doubly sure I had pressed each part firmly to the ceramic before lifting it straight up.

Then it was time for my own hand.  I repeated the same process with my own hand.

Then with my son’s.

And finally with my daughter’s.  I used a different shade of green for each hand print.

Once the tree was finished, I added our family name across the bottom of the ceramic. To do this I simply wrote our name lightly in pencil then used a bottle with a pointed cap to trace the letters with paint.

After finishing the name I decided it needed something more so I added thumbprint bees.  To do this I repeated the same process for the hands except I only painted the thumb.  I chose to do these all with the same shade of yellow.  Once I had each of the thumbprints down and nearly dry I added the wings (a rounded M shape on top), the stinger (a V shape on the back), a dot for the eye, and a few lines across the bee for stripes.  These little details made all the difference.

Finally, after waiting for the front to dry, I flipped the plate to the back and added our names and the date. Last, I added a small dragonfly (significant to me for other reasons) just because it looked like it needed something.

I couldn’t wait to pick up my plate and am so happy with how it turned out.  The only problem now is finding a plate hook large enough.  ^__^  

I hope you enjoyed the project as much as I did.  May you be inspired and Happy Crafting!

How To - Turkey Veggie Tray

You know that cute little veggie tray that looks like a turkey you have seen all over Pinterest and Facebook?  Well, I’m going to show you how to make your own!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

•  1 Round Tray/platter – I used a Charger
•  1 Head of Romaine/Large Leaf Lettuce Leaves
•  1 bag of Baby Carrots – Baby Carrots or Full Carrots sliced (see below)
•  1 head of Celery
•  ¼ pound of Green Beans (I have seen Asparagus as well)
•  1 Yellow Squash
•  2 Slices of Black Olives
•  1 Red, Yellow, and Green Bell Pepper
•  2 – 3 Cups of Cherry Tomatoes
•  1 Cucumber
•  2 Toothpicks

How to Build Your Turkey:

1.       Cover your tray with romaine lettuce leaves.  Leave the space at the bottom edge where the legs will be free of lettuce.  You can only cover the outer edge or cover your entire tray as you see fit.  (I covered my entire tray so it would look nice once people had snagged all of the veggies  ^__^)

2.       Cut your veggies.  Clean and cut your celery.  You should cut your celery into thirds and then cut each section in half so you end up with thinner slices (you should get 6 slices from each stalk).  Do the same with your carrots if you have full size carrots (Leave baby carrots alone).  Clean and cut your peppers.  Cut the ends off of your peppers, cut one side open, open your pepper, clean the insides out, cut each pepper in half, then slice them horizontally from top to bottom.  Cut Green Beans in half.  Slice the cucumbers.  You can skin them or not.  I chose to skin mine.  See pics for a better explanation of all cutting.

3.       Start with your celery.  Set aside two slices for the feet.  About two inches from the outside of your lettuce begin to build your turkey by making an arch of celery.

4.       Next, about an inch from the ends of the celery, begin making an arch of carrots and green beans.  

5.       Now it’s time to build the turkey’s body.  Place cucumbers in an oval shape near the bottom of the tray where you did not put lettuce, allowing it overflow onto the lettuce covered area.  You can place as many cucumber slices as you’d like here.  It’s not a problem to cover some slices with extras overlapping as you go.

6.       Next, add the cherry tomatoes just above the cucumbers.

7.       Then start to add your peppers.  You need to leave one yellow pepper and one red pepper slice aside for the turkey.  Place the green peppers in a small arch above the tomatoes, then add the yellow above those, then the red so you will end up with a small pepper rainbow above the tomatoes.  To make the feet, cut two triangles out of each of the slices of celery you saved aside to make toes.  Then place them under the cucumbers so the “toes” stick out of the bottom.

8.       Next you need to make your turkey’s face out of the yellow squash and our extra pieces.  Cut a small triangle for the beak from the yellow pepper you set aside.  Using toothpicks to attach (I broke mine in smaller pieces) these pieces to the large end of the yellow squash, add the two slices of black olives for eyes, the yellow pepper triangle for the beak, and the red pepper for the wattle.  Then place the narrow end (the undecorated end) of your squash under the cucumbers and nestle the top into the tomatoes and peppers.

Having finished my turkey, it had to survive the ride to our Thanksgiving dinner so I wrapped the crud out of it.  ^__^

It must have been a big hit though.  There wasn't much left by the end of the night.

And there you have it!  Your festive turkey veggie tray!  Add a bowl of dip next to it for a great party success. 

I would love to hear how yours turned out or what alterations you made to the recipe.  I hope you enjoy your start to the holiday season.  Happy Holidays!