Ghostly feet

Last year Colton was only 7 months old when I painted the bottom of his foot with white acrylic paint so that I could stamp the image onto black paper for his first craft project with me. He didn't complain at all.

This year I couldn't think of a suitable project for a 19 month old, so I decided to repeat last year's footprint. I thought it would be cute to compare sizes. I had planned to take his picture with the sole of his foot white, but trauma occurred.

I have no idea what that poor child thought I was doing to him, but he cried from the moment the foam brush touched his foot. He was captive in his high chair and grandpa did his best to distract him but the tears became sobs. Colton is so fair skinned, when he cries he gets red and blotchy almost immediately.

How did I handle this? The way generations of grandmothers have handled tearful trauma...I told grandpa to get him some pudding! Colton ate the pudding but tears continued until I was done. He wasn't too thrilled with the foot washing either, but once he was on the ground and running, all was forgiven.

I don't think I will be making actual cards from these prints, I'll be leaving them as tags instead that can be propped or scrapbooked. There is one for mommy and daddy, one for his other grandparents, one for Uncle Billy and one for us, the tormentors.

The middle ghost is from last year. I wish I remember which blog I saw this on last year to give proper credit, but I do not recall which one it was.

The rickety fence on the lower left and the bottom borders of spiders on both right side prints are Martha Stewart punches. I see now that I cut off part of the upper right one's trim. I used another Martha Stewart punch that has cobwebs and hanging spiders.

The Prince of Sweetness wasn't really wearing shoes last October but this year he is in a size 8 and growing.

Next year we'll find something where he can be an active participant. I won't paint his foot again unless he likes the idea. Hopefully I'll have a large enough piece of paper!