I'm a keepsake fanatic.  On my mantle is a framed picture of my firstborn with his 6 year old hand print and his first sweet love letter to his Dad and me.  Then there's my three year old's framed handprint, made to look like his sweet face.  But long before that I began collecting boxes of memories.  I have broken friendship bracelets from my elementary bf Kerry, every passed note in Jr. High, and a sampling of rose petals from the bouquets I was given in High School.   Every few years I seem to wittle down my old collection of memories to make way for the new... those covered in my children's fingerprints.  

However, now that I have three boys (who gloriously hit milestones at a pace not even my fastest shutter speed can catch,) I'm very thoughtful about which pictures I blow up and frame, which ones I place into their scrapbooks, which outfits I carefully fold up and put into their keepsake box, and which of their Father's love notes to me I slip into their saved baby blankets for them to find when they are joyfully expecting their own first born miracle.  Keepsakes.  

Two years ago I had an idea.  I bought a large canvas and a few small bottles of acrylic paint that coordinated not only with Fall tones, but also the colors in my home.  I started with rolling green hills on the bottom of the picture and a bright sun shining up in the left corner.  Then I asked the boys to come and help me one at a time.  I liberally coated their arms with brown paint and used them as little stamps to make their tree trunks, then painted their hands and pressed them down upon the canvas to make their branches.  Pointer fingers dotted leaves upon their trees and pinkies made little red apples within the boughs.  

More than one child lost interest before I was satisfied, so my fingerprints are mixed with theirs I must confess.

It's not worthy of the Louvre, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a keepsake I plan to hang each Fall until I die.  If you decide to do this craft I suggest you have another adult on hand to take a few pictures of the little ones lending their arms and fingers.  Then place the pictures with their names and ages in a plastic baggy and tape it to the back frame of the canvas to enjoy after many years have passed and the memory has faded some.

After the picture had dried and was hanging in our family room I took a family picture that my Brother had taken a few weeks before and made a complimentary keepsake.  I started with a smaller frame and painted it with the same paints I'd used for our apple orchard.  I then used Mog Pog to glue it into place and give it a finished look.  Finally I transferred the words "Giving Thanks" onto the finished product.  

Attempting this creative endeavor took more courage than money or ability.  And I am so pleased to bring it out each Autumn as the leaves begin to fall and the air contains a certain crispness that chases us in doors and forces me to bake.

So run to Michael's or Walmart and get the supplies to make your own Harvest time keepsake with your little ones.  You'll be glad you did... for years to come.