These Hands, Small But Mighty

Bobby Bland knew what he was talking about. There's something about the hands of children. And their feet. But their hands get me on a visceral level. I just want to kiss 'em! My grandkids (a couple with their mamas help) allowed me to capture their hands when we were together last Christmas.

I made my favorite salt dough. It's really easy and fast. You put one cup of hot-as-you-can-stand-it water in a large bowl. Add one cup of salt. Swish it around until the salt is as dissolved as you can get it, then add two cups of flour. Mix it all up, roll it out, and press itty bitty hands into it. You can also let the kids play with it. It'll keep for about a week if covered, just about forever if dried.

I usually like to let the prints air dry, but I was in a hurry and baked them at 200 degrees and they bubbled a little bit. Dang. But I'm OK with messy and imperfect. That's life, right?

Then I painted them up.

And slapped on a coat of Elmer's glue. Hey, don't judge, I'm out of clear sealer, ok?

And tack them up with a bit of knotted ribbon.

How sweet is that? You can't really see it in these pictures, but the youngest one's came with the imprint of his sleeve cuff.  I love that. I wrote their names, their ages, the month and year on the back of each one to keep track of the sweetness.

See you soon, little ones.