Thursday, May 24, 2012

Another Great Father's Day Idea-Footprints in the Sand


Footprints in the Sand 

While I was looking for cute ideas for  Rock's birthday, I wanted DIY ideas that incorporated the kids, and would coordinate with my beach cottage theme. I stumbled across the idea of using plaster to preserve footprints in the sand. Now with all of my bellycasting skills, plaster and I have a very intimate relationship. Add the fact that the beach is 15 minutes from my home, and you have the perfect inexpensive heartfelt fun gift to make with your kids for Daddy. So even though I did this for Rock's birthday, it also makes for a great Father's Day gift.  I found this idea on Tori Spelling's blog, which you can find here. I won't go over all of the instructions or step by step photos, because the ones on her page are great. I will add some tips and how tos when you don't live 15 minutes from the beach though.  


Love the beach 
So, I am not super fond of people making all of the DIY/handmade/homemade projects crafts etc.  look like they always work out perfectly. Part of the enjoyment or mental stimulation I get from creating things,  is when problem solving skills are enlisted. It's that bit of frustration or realization of failure that causes you to discover a better technique, and makes the end result even more pleasing. 
What I learned from this project was that it is a bad idea to delay starting a project like this to two days before you need it finished. Sure we live in Sunny S. FL and 12 months out of the year you can go to the beach, BUT not 365 days out of the year is the beach pleasant. Well, a cold front came in and well, it was COLD and cloudy, and drizzling off and on. This made the sand perfect for plastering, made it agonizing waiting for the plaster to dry, and made the plaster take a whole lot longer to dry. Plus the beach was quite empty so when you are carrying a water jug, plaster, empty container to mix the plaster, scissors, rope, two kids, beach toys etc. etc. and you are nuts enough to take your kids' shoes off in the freezing weather to get started with this project EXPECT the lifeguard who is very bored  to be watching you perplexed with what you are up to, as you are the only human life on the beach.

Plaster poured into footprints

Had to get a little creative with Tadpole's footprints because he did it "his way"
Tadpole(left) & Bean(right) frozen but having a blast on the beach 




 Hanging in our home in the hallway outside of their room=totally worth the craziness we went through to make them.

Make your own beach and DIY 

So how did I discover another way to make these? Well when you are freezing and you pull one plaster footprint out of the sand only to discover the plaster wasn't thick enough and it breaks, you decide to trek home with beach sand to make another one somewhere where it is warm. If you don't live anywhere near a beach, don't fret, you can buy sand see below. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of this process as at this point I was eagerly hiding, and rushing the process through before hubby saw.

 You will need

Plaster of Paris -8lbs(way more than you need of Dap plaster of paris is about $10, go to joann's fabric or Michael's with one of their 40% coupons and it costs about $6.

Play Sand- You can purchase 50lbs worth of play sand(way more than you need) from home depot here

Water

Scissors 

Ribbon, rope twine or whatever you want your footprints to hang from 

a container to mix plaster and water together 


A rectangular bucket/possible disposable foil pan(haven't tried it but I am sure it would work) I happened to have this lying around my house
 you can get one on amazon for $6.85, but free is always better, so see what you have lying around. 





Pour enough sand at least 3.5 inches deep into the rectangle container. If the sand is dry  you will want to add some water to create packed sand. Have your child stand in container, it is easiest to pick them straight up out of the container so the footprints don't get messed up.  When you are happy with the imprints of their feet, mix the plaster according to the directions on the package and pour into footprints. Cut your ribbon, rope, twine or whatever you are using to hand the footprints from and place into plaster while wet. Allow 20-25 minutes to dry. And you are done!!!!  HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the amazing DADS out there!!!





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2 comments:

  1. I love this idea! I'm featuring it on my blog for my Father's Day themed Sharing Saturday--let me know if that's a problem!

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  2. Hi Carla! I would love it if you shared these footprints!

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