Mother's Day Tote

This year I am celebrating my first Mother's Day as a mother.  Mother's Day has always been a bit special to me.  I was born on Mother's Day and my birthday has landed on it a handful of times since then.  So for my first Mother's Day, the girls are giving me a tote with their feet print on it (they made them for their Leila and Oma too).

I had planned to actually sew the tote my self with a square of fabric that had their feet print on it.  Then I saw these totes at Michael's and realized how much time that would save me.  They don't look as good and are not as sturdy as if I had made them myself but my time these days that is budgeted for crafts is minimal so I had to make due. 

It was pretty easy and inexpensive to do.  All you need is a tote, non-toxic fabric paint (one bottle for the feet and the other for the writing), paper towels, a piece of cardboard, and a baby.

 

I did it while the girls were in their high chairs to keep them from moving too much.  Place a piece of cardboard on the inside of  the tote where you want the foot print to go.  It will give you a firm surface for the print. 

Using the paper towel, swab the the foot with paint. You want it well coated but not too thick.  Line up the baby's foot where you want it on the tote and press it firmly all at once.   I started out placing the heel down and then rolling the rest of the foot down so they would spread out their toes more.  Unfortunately that caught too much of the heel and made the foot print longer than the actual foot is.  So press the whole foot at once, even if they curl their toes in a little.

Then write the date or how many months old the baby is with paint that has the nozzle and let it dry for four hours.  And that's it.  All done except for the clean up.  For the most part, the paint comes off easily although the girls did had black paint under their toe nails for a day or two after.