Salt Dough Heart Footprint Keepsake

I am very excited about Valentines Day this year, Little N who is now 2 years old is a very inquisitive, thoughtful little girl who enjoys getting messy and having fun. She has such a great relationship with both sets of Grandparents so this is an opportunity to get creative and make a lovely Valentine’s Day keepsake for them. And what would be cuter then a valentines footprint keepsake?

These adorable Salt Dough Footprint Heart Keepsakes where first shared in 2015!

A big hello to all of you Red Ted Art readers, I am Amy Louise. After several years of working in a Primary School, I am now a stay at home Mom to a lovely little girl who is now 2 years old. I blog over at Learning and Exploring Through Play, we share activities, arts, crafts and sensory play activities with a focus of bringing a creative approach to child development. I have a passion for children learning through their play.

We set about making our Salt Dough Heart Footprint Keepsake using our simple Salt Dough Recipe. In 5 simple steps and 3 ingredients you can create endless crafts, gifts and keepsakes for any occasion.

Little N enjoyed measuring the salt and flour into the cups, adding them to the bowl and giving them a good mix together, she was in her element! I like her being involved in preparations where possible.

I folded the dough until it came together to make the mixture and used a tray to roll out the dough. The mixture this recipe makes will make one set of footprints (as pictured), we had only a small amount left over.

Once the dough was rolled out, we set about getting Little N’s footprints into the dough. We overlapped her heels to create a footprint heart.

Using a sharp knife I cut around the footprints and created a heart ornament. I left it overnight and most of the following day to air dry before putting it into the oven at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for around 3-4 hours. I kept a close check on them to make sure they wasn’t burning or cracking.

Once they were dry it was time to set about painting them. I did this using acrylic paints.

When the painting was done, I used a black pen to include a saying around the edges ‘I love you from the very bottom of my heart, to the tips of my toes.’ I used clear varnish to seal them but you can also use PVA glue.

Now wasn’t that just the easiest footprint keepsake ever?! I hope you like it and have a go too!

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Amy joins us on our 31 Days of Love  series for January 2015. This is a “Love” themed series we first started last year. It is a way, not only to bring you some fantastic Valentine’s Day Activities for you and the kids, but also to celebrate the blogging community that I am a part of. 40 (we aimed for 31, but ended up extending to 40) of my co-bloggers, share a post each day about Love with you this month. There will be Valentine’s Day Cards, Valentine’s Day Decorations, Valentine’s Day Treats or Valentine’s Day Gifts for you check out and enjoy!

If you loved these adorable keepsakes.. you will also LOVE LOVE LOVE these Valentine’s Day Crafts for Preschoolers:

Check out a round up of last year’s Valentine’s Day Card ideas? Over 40 ideas