The daddy gift array part 4

About a million years ago when I was a child, the absolute highlight of breakfast time was the toy you got in with the breakfast cereal.  My favourite of these were shrinky dinks - small pictures which you coloured in and then put in the oven to shrink (hence the name).  I have no idea what you were supposed to do with these after this point but I still loved them.

So imagine my utter joy when I saw shrinkies paper and packs in my local hobbycraft a few months back.  They were instantly assigned to my I'm using those at some point brain file - I just needed a reason and a project.

Awww, its a teeny weeny me hand

Shrinkies A4 paper

Pencil crayons

Paint (any type that will produce a hand print)

Scissors

One keyring attachment and ring 

A big fat book

A hole punch

An oven

A child

Paint your childs hand and print on to the rough dull side of the paper.  We used paint designed for handprints from ELC and it didnt dry particularly well, so if I was doing it again I'd probably go for something else.

Cut around the hand leaving a good sized border and use the punch to make a single hole.

Put in to the oven according to the instructions on the pack.  The first time I did this in our fan oven it blew like crazy and stuck together so had to go in the bin.  The second time I turned the tray every 20 - 30 seconds.  It takes a couple of minutes before the print goes flat. 

Remove from the oven and shove a book on the hot plastic (Jamie Oliver books work well I have found).  This will ensure its flat (ish).

Allow to cool and add the key ring thingy.

I think we're going to try assorted colour prints and magnets next time.

Better than hallmark (maybe)

Stage one and we already have options

1. Have your child draw a picture directly on to the shrinkies paper and colour it in

2. Know that you have one of those 'if this goes wrong in the oven you will never draw another picture again' children and have them draw on to paper and transfer this on to pc and print (obviously you'll need a method of doing this and a printer for this option!)

I went with option two.  Milly is *that* child.  I also did it in two parts - first she drew the black and white outline which I scanned, fixed up with GIMP to make it darker (if you want to do this then look for a levels tutorial - it basically involves moving the little arrows to the right of the peak around a bit).  Then she coloured in this printed version and I re-scanned, fixed the levels and then printed on to the shrinkies paper.  The only problem with doing it this way was that the background has a slightly strange colour to it, but I can pretend it was intentional.

Cook as above and leave to cool and you get something like this

Now its over to the small people to stick to a card and decorate as only their crazy little selves can.

I hope he likes it!  I always get very nervous about these things.