"Give Thanks" - Thanksgiving Handprint Plate

We are on day three of our Disney Countdown Chain.  So far, we have bounced around the room like Tigger and played freeze dance to Disney music (kind of like musical chairs, but take away the chairs and add dancing - if you move once the music stops, you are out).  Today we even ate an apple in honor of Snow White.  I usually take one apple and divide it among the three of them, so to have a whole apple to themselves was quite a treat.  Especially when they would pretend to swoon after every bite.

As much fun as this has been so far, there are other projects we are preparing for the holidays.  I saw the neatest Thanksgiving plate from Painted Zebra.  Unfortunately, they are in Missouri, so I decided I would try to make my own.

I used:
White plate from the Dollar Tree
Paint (ceramic paint works best, but I just used what I had on hand)
Paint brushes in varying sizes
Transparent ceramic paint

Start by painting a pumpkin the middle of your plate and brown accent marks around the edge.  Let dry about 15-20 minutes, and paint a second coat for more vibrant colors.  Then paint your pumpkin stem.

Once dry,  liberally apply paint to a sweet little hand and help place it on the plate to form the pumpkin leaf.  Check your spacing; our 5-year old's hand was almost too big.

Once the handprint has dried (15-20 min.) add accents and any desired wording.  Finally, paint two or three coats of clear ceramic paint over the whole plate with a soft brush - allowing each coat to dry four hours before applying next coat.  Place plate in the center rack of your oven and turn oven to 320 degrees.  Once temperature has been reached, allow to bake for 30 minutes.  Allow the plate to cool in the oven for 1 hour.

If you have the money, and are in the Kirkwood, MO area, I would leave this to the experts.  However, this is our version of a fun Pinterest find.  Happy Crafting!