This is a great craft gift I did for my dad for Father’s Day. My mom was the one who first suggested doing something with my daughters hand prints on canvas, since I couldn’t figure out what to get him. It’s very inexpensive and doesn’t take very long to go.
What You Need:
1 8×10 stretched canvas (under $5 at Walmart for a 2-pack)
Paint (Acrylic paint is $0.50 a bottle at Walmart)
Stencils
Foam paint brush (for putting paint on hand)
Foam Stencil Paint Brush
How To Do It:
1. Open up your canvas and lay it down flat. Put your stencil down and use the stencil brush to put your message on it. I used FolkArt Peel and Stick stencils so that I could get everything lined up straight as possible. I purposely went over the lines a little to give it a stamped look. The brush I used was a rounded foam brush with a flat end that you dab at the stencil with (got it in an assortment pack). Once the paint dried a little, I peeled up the stencils and put them back on their sheet & put them away.
2. Now comes the fun part: the hand prints. Once your child picks out what hand they want to use, use the foam paint brush and coat their hand with the first paint you want to use. I started with orange. You need a semi think coat…enough to leave a clear print but think enough to see the detail. You might want to test on some paper first until you get the desired coverage. Start at one side and slowly make your way around. I left enough spaces in between so that I would be able to put the second color in with just a little overlap.
3. Once the first color dries enough, you can start the second. Do the same as before. I used yellow for the second layer.
4. For the last layer, you can randomly overlap the other prints. This gives it a bit of a depth and fills in any blank space. I used the green.
I think it took us a grand total of 15 to 20 minutes. My dad absolutely loved it and now my mom wants one too.
This is a really cute idea. My mom would totally love this. (she’s an art teacher) might just have to pull this one out for a gift for her! 🙂 Thanks for the idea!
This is a great gift for grandparents, and also a way to keep a momento of when your kids were younger. I have three boys, the youngest is 9. When they were smaller, I had them imprint their hands in a mud mold. A nice keepsake that I will give them when they are older.