If you have kids or if you remember when you were a kid then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Back in the day my mom and I would always put some kind of craft together. I liked painting and I liked making messes, so we would always find some kind of craft where I can do both of those. Every Thanksgiving we would work on a holiday craft, whether it was to give as a gift or decorate our home. We always went to my aunt’s house, so sometimes the gift would be for her.

This year, I found a neat craft that mother’s can work on with their children; it’s a turkey apron. It’s a really easy craft to make and once again, it allows the kids to get messy with fabric acrylics. There are few materials needed in order to make this apron:

• DecoArt Products Required
  • SoSoft Fabric Acrylics
• DSS41 – Burnt Sienna
• SoSoft Dimensional Writers
• DD102 – Cadmium Yellow
• DD104 – Festive Red
• DD115 – Black
• Foam plate
• Small round brush
• Paper towels
• Water
• 3/8″ and 3/4″ round foam pouncer brushes
• Natural canvas aprons, Loew-Cornell “Totally You” (APGN-3636, adult; KDAPN-3636)

Here’s how to make it:

You first have to prepare by laying newspaper out as it will get a bit messy. Aprons must be flat on surface. Be sure you have wet paper towels and soap ready to clean hands at sink.

Adult Apron
1. Squeeze and spread Burnt Sienna onto foam plate. With fingers spread slightly, press hand flat into paint and then press hand flat onto apron bib area. If more solid handprint is needed, use small brush to lightly fill in hand shape.

2. Use 3/4″ pouncer brush dipped in Burnt Sienna to stamp random dots over apron surface and around handprint. Repeat with Cadmium Yellow and Festive Red Writers. Allow to dry.

3. Use Cadmium Yellow to create small triangle for beak shape on turkey head; paint lines for legs and feet. Use Festive Red to paint small heart-shaped waddle under turkey head and to paint words below turkey.

4. Use Black Writer to paint dot eye on turkey and curved line for wing shape.

Child’s Apron
1. Repeat same instructions as above, but assist with stamping handprint and use smaller pouncer brush when stamping dots on apron.

This apron reminds me of a time when I was little. You can make this for any special occasion. My three sisters and I made a sweatshirt for Mother’s Day. I believe the only material we used was a sweatshirt, paint and puffy paints.

Here’s what we did:

1. We poured the paint into a tin of some sort, of course it was sitting on a table covered with newspaper so it wouldn’t get too messy.

2. We stuck our hand into the paint to be sure the entire hand was covered.

3. We firmly pressed our hands onto the sweatshirt so the paint would stick and then slowly pulled our hand back as to not mess up the pattern.

4. Once our hands were dry on the sweatshirt we used the puffy paints to design the rest of the sweatshirt with squiggly lines and polka dots. We also wrote happy Mother’s Day on it along with each of our names next to our hand print.

Keep in mind, this can be done for any special occasion. If you want to make a Thanksgiving sweatshirt or apron, you do the same thing. Get paint on your hand and make the handprint. Then use puffy paints to draw in the rest of the turkey. It makes for a nice homemade gift or decoration.

For more great Turkey and Thanksgiving crafts click here!