Contrary to how this appears, we are not getting paw-printed by the police for our wild partying last week. Instead these paw prints are yet another art project we did as part of my birthday celebration. As previously mentioned in my Red, Golden, and Green, Dog Art post, my name in the whelping box was Little Man. That was because I was the smallest in the litter, and rather than assigning me a color to differentiate me from my siblings, they just called me Little Man. However, as time went on I grew bigger, and eventually I was the same size as my peers. That’s when I earned a second name in the whelping box of “Mr. Paws,” thanks to a paw print ribbon that I wore. Therefore to celebrate my 12th birthday, Asa wanted to give a nod to this early identity with a paw print art project.

Things have come a long way since Mom first attempted to make paw print art with Lemmy many years ago. Back then it got messy with Lemmy deciding to walk around the kitchen with his inked up paw, but going nowhere near the paper she wanted him to leave his print! Instead the pads we used were “inkless,” clean touch pads. They are designed with a film over one side, that you press your paw down on, leaving a perfect paw print on a paper underneath the ink pad. The paw never has ink on it!

A word of advice though if you want to try this project too. These ink pads are designed for infants, so if you have big paws like Asa, check the measurements before ordering! Thankfully, they do make them in larger sizes. Also a good paw trim is helpful to get the best print.

We are planning to frame ours to hang to our mudroom which has a paw print stencil on the walls. But they can also be used for cards, ornaments, or pawtographs! I’m sure those with more of a creative flare than us can think of even more ways to use your paw print art!