Bridging the Distance One Keepsake at a Time: Caught in a Web of Fun

With the military lifestyle, we’re often swept away and find the seasons rolling by quickly, but October always brings a special kind of magic with it. The leaves change colors and Halloween approaches, but those miles between our children and their grandparents feel just a little farther apart with the start of the holiday season. The kids’ faces lit up when they were talking about their Halloween costume plans, and all the decorations they wanted from the store on their weekly video chat. It tends to pull your heart strings making you want to freeze time, and send it to those who aren’t close enough to see them growing like weeds.

Last month we did that sweet little Latte craft, but for our October edition, we are sending hands-down the cutest little spiders their way!

Supplies:

• Construction Paper
• Washable Paint (Black and White)
• Paper towel and water cup (to clean the brushes)
• Paintbrushes
• Pencil
• Black Marker

Directions:

• Paint a generous coat of black paint over your child’s palm and four fingers (leaving their thumb clean). Press their hand down onto the bottom of the sheet of paper. Reapply the paint if needed, then press their hand one more time overlapping their palms onto one another to form the spider. This should create a perfect eight legged friend.
• Once dry, you can draw or paint a spiderweb at the top of the sheet or in the corner. Then draw a single strand hanging from the web connecting to the handprint spider.
• Add a little Halloween spirit with a spooky message in the blank space with markers or colored pencils. I just put a simple “Happy Halloween” on there to personalize the art piece.
• Before slipping this master piece into the mailbox to Grandma and Grandpa, add some eyes to your dry spider. We used paint, but you could also use googly eyes if you wanted to get fancy!

These little handprint spiders will do much more than just brighten up their refrigerator door…it will bridge the miles between our children and their grandparents. Allowing them to enjoy the excitement straight from our growing children even from miles away. October days fly by so fast when we are in the rhythm of living our daily lives. Sending keepsakes made by the tiny hands that they adore the most, will create a moment in time that our long distance family can hold onto forever. Slip yours in the mail today, so you too can share the fall magic with them from a distance, and enjoy watching your tiny humans weave up memories alongside you that will last long after the Halloween treats have come and gone!

Don’t forget to check out all of our Bridging the Distance One Keepsake at a Time series!

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