Clay Handprint Ornament

I wanted to make some personalized ornaments for my baby this year, and I wanted to make sure I got an ornament that included my baby’s handprint so I can always remember how sweet and little she is for her first Christmas. After doing some research for a nice white clay I ended up making my own. I love this cute clay ornament, and as long as your child is cooperative, it shouldn’t be too hard or take very long!

Materials

air dry clay

circle cookie cutter (or other circular shaped object – it just needs to be bigger than your child’s hand

rolling pin

string/ribbon to hang ornament

Toothpick to write on the ornament

cookie cooling rack

Sandpaper

Making your Ornament

Once you’ve made your clay, roll out your clay with your rolling pin to about 1/4″ thickness. Use your cookie cutter to cut a nice circle in your clay.

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This part is the hard part: get your baby and press their hand into the clay. I couldn’t get a picture of us doing this because my baby was not feeling very cooperative, but I do have a few tips for you. First, make sure baby is in a good mood, trying to do this with a tired grumpy baby WILL NOT work. Next, you need them to push harder than you think, and you really only get one chance or you have to re roll your clay (which I also had to do a few times) Last, I spread my baby’s hand out, placed it in the clay and put my own hand immediately over hers so she couldn’t grab the clay or curl her hand up. Make sure your press their fingers and palm down firmly into the clay.

Once I got the handprint, I used the toothpick to carve the date and make a small hole in the top for ribbon to hang up your ornament. Let dry on your cooling rack, and don’t touch it again until it’s dry, I let mine dry for about 24 hours.

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Once your clay ornament is dry, use the sandpaper to soften the edges of your ornament, I also had to sandpaper around the “2021” I carved to make it look smoother. Attach your ribbon and you are done!