I absolutely love this craft I did last weekend with the family. Technically you could also use it for a Hanukkah craft, too. It was super simple and easy to paint, and took very little time as well. This is the kind of thing that I am going to bring out every year with a warm smile on my face, remembering when our thumbprints were these sizes:

Family Keepsake Plate Craft

What You Need to Make This Christmas Family Plate

Like these Thanksgiving painted plates, all you need are Folk Art Enamel paints in blue, white, orange and extra dark purple (or black), a plain white plate from your local dollar store, and paint brushes. Oh, and thumbs. Make sure you get the Enamel paints, they get baked onto the plate.

How to Paint the Penguin Family Christmas Plate

First, mix the light blue paint together with a tiny bit of blue paint in some white paint. I left them slightly unmixed for the streaked effect in the background. Paint the area shown in the example plate above in light blue. Since it would be hard to get a clean edge by hand, I just left the brush strokes on the outside to transition the painting to the plate.

Next, paint the bottom ‘snow hill’ with straight white paint in a wavy line, then feather the edges like you did for the blue paint.

Next get the family lined up and start painting thumbs! I went from largest to smallest (Dad, Mom, Big Sis, Brother, Little Sis). You do need a generous amount of paint for the thumbprints, but don’t let it glob up on the plate, otherwise it will crack while baking.

Penguin Family Plate Detail

Next, with a small detail paint brush and the dark purple (or black) paint, put two wings, a ‘V’ shaped hairline, and eyes on each penguin. Then dot two feet in place and a tiny triangle for the beak.

I thought the plate looked a little plain at this point, so I dabbed snowflakes randomly all over the background with the white paint. Then I put a ring of dark purple polka dots around the rim and added “2009″ at the bottom. I could have also labeled each penguin with a name, but liked it enough just as is.

Let it dry for about an hour, then bake according to the Enamel paint directions.

You can’t eat off of this plate, but if you cover it with a cute napkin, I’m sure that Santa would LOVE to eat cookies off of it every year! Mine is probably going into a plate holder and onto my mantel.

Be sure to also check out our Christmas recipes, more Christmas crafts, or our huge amount of Christmas coloring pages!