Father's Day Gift Idea: Handprint Baseball

Hey peeps. Happy Tuesday to ya. Hope you're having a spectacular day so far. Today is one of my days at home with Callum, and his friend, Ollie, is hanging out with us for the day, too. It's been a pretty busy morning so far.

We did a little building. And a lot of fighting over who had the hammer.

And, we filled a little pool in the backyard. It's supposed to get up to 85 this afternoon, and I'm hoping it will be warm enough for them to get in after their nap. Although, they both got soaked just filling the pool and neither seemed to mind the icy water. (Hence the shirtless Ollie.)

Cutest pool boy eva. Eva. Eva.

Father's Day Gift Idea: Handprint Baseball

I also wanted to share this cute Father's Day gift that Callum and I were working on for Matt earlier in the week. (Don't worry. I have faith that Matt won't check this blog until after Father's Day.)

Matt loves, loves, loves baseball. I know he dreams of the day that he can play ball with Callum. He already enjoys taking him to Brewers games whenever he can and he's convinced that he can turn our right-handed son into a left-handed pitcher.

We have a ton of old baseballs lying around the house from Matt's glory days. *Cough* Highschool. *Cough* So, when I saw this Father's Day gift idea on Pinterest, I knew it would be perfect. All you'll need is an old baseball, some paint, a paintbrush, and your kid's hand (probably the most difficult supply to harness down.)

I set everything up outside, thinking we'd make a huge mess. It really wasn't too messy, just be sure you have wet paper towels or a rag ready for immediately after you put the handprint on the ball. Once Callum realized the paint was on his hand, he wanted to touch everything.

I used a red acrylic paint and simply painted Callum's hand with a thin coat. Then, I stretched his hand over the ball and said a quick prayer that all would turn out alright. Our first attempt wasn't the greatest. I tried to wash the paint off the ball, but it still left a pretty bad stain. So, I just grabbed another one from our stash and tried again. If you only have one baseball, you might want to be a little more careful on the first try than we were.

After we had a hand print that we liked, I filled in the print in a few spots that were a little lighter. Another good idea is to have a small bowl that you can put the baseball in to dry. Obviously, the ball will roll if it's not resting on something, and you won't be able to hold it since you'll be trying to stop your toddler from touching everything with his painted hand.

After the paint was dry, I wrote "Callum 2015" on the top of the baseball. On the sides, I wrote "Happy Father's Day" and "Dad's Little Slugger."

I'm planning on adding this to a little gift basket with a six pack of craft beer, peanuts, cracker jacks, and a Brewers T-shirt. I know Matt will love it.

Are you planning on making anything for your baby daddy this Father's Day? I'd love to hear your ideas!