Jack's Gift to Grandparents on Mother's Day

This year marked a turning point for both my wife and both of our mothers.  This year is the first Mother's Day where my wife was a full blown mom (not just a soon to be mom) and our mothers officially became grandmothers.  My wife had been asking for a new diaper bag for a long time and I splurged and got her one for the big day, but we weren't sure what to get the grandparents.  My wife and I decided to look online for cheap ideas on how to make something memorable that the grandparents could use but would also incorporate Jack into the mix.  What we found, I think, worked well.

The idea we had (and this isn't original, it's been done before) was to get a terracotta pot and use paint to put Jack's footprints on the pot and then turn those footprints into butterfly wings.  To do this, we needed non toxic paint, two terracotta pots, a paint marker, a couple foam brushes, and a lot of patience.

So, step 1 - get non toxic paint and make three separate small globs of it with one separate paint brush for each glob.  Spread one color on the child's heel, one on the midsection of the foot, and the other on the sole of the foot/toes and then place the foot on the pot like in the picture below.  If it sounds difficult - that's because it is.  Getting a 6 month old to sit still while you tickle his feet with paint and then press said feet against a pot without smudging is nigh impossible - so be prepared.  The result should look like the following - if it doesn't, just touch it up with paint - it'll be our secret.

Step One - Check...

Now that you have two foot prints (or foot print shaped blobs - good enough!) on the pots, wash off your child's feet so that you don't get it all over the kitchen like we did.  Got that taken care of?  Good.  Now get the artsiest person in your household to make a butterfly out of the feet.  For this, I gladly handed the reins over to my wife while I held Jack and watched with admiration as a butterfly was born from two foot blobs.  The result, turned out like this.

Not bad for a quick DIY project for the grandparents!  To add a little extra something to the project, you can write a special message on the bottom of the pot so that the grandparents can reminisce about their first mother's day as grandparents.  Congratulations to you as well, you just made an awesome gift under 15 bucks.