I bought a Lil’ Hands kit from JoAnn’s.  It comes with non-toxic paper clay  to cast your child’s hand which doesn’t dry fast so if you mess up you can retry before you pour the plaster into the mold. The set also comes with paint and ribbon to decorate but I didn’t think these did the plaque justice.  I used green and pink Folk Art acrylic paint to add polka dots, paint the handprint, and paint the lettering “Sienna” and “1 1/2 Years.”

To make the handprint plaque look more like ceramic than plaster I used Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze as a finish.  It is a glaze that you don’t need a kiln for!  It also protects the plaster from denting or cracking.

Once the plaque was dry, I cut a large piece of 2 inch pink polka dot ribbon to hang it from.  Hand-print preserved! Memories on a budget: kit was $9.99 but I used a 40% off coupon, paint runs less than a dollar for 2 oz, already had the glaze and ribbon!