Sunday, December 25, 2011

Handprint Painting

If you're trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for Grandma and Grandpa, I've got just the thing.

This handprint Christmas tree painting is simple, inexpensive, and guaranteed to warm the hearts of your loved ones this Christmas and for many years to come.



What you'll need:
- Canvas
- Small bottle of green acrylic paint (Or two)
- Small amount of brown, yellow, red and silver acrylic paint for tree accents

Cost:
- Around $20


First, you'll need to pick up an artist's canvas at your local craft store.  I bought my 16 x 20 canvas for about $12.  You can paint the canvas, like I did, or you just leave it white and it looks great, too.    

I bought two different colors of green acrylic paint (for about $2 each) to create a more realistic-looking texture.  I added handprints to the canvas to form a tree shape.

In my painting, I used all five grandchildren's handprints from top to bottom by birth order, but you could also use handprints from one child to create all the rows.

I added red and silver ornaments by making dots of paint with my pinkie finger. Then I fingerpainted the star and trunk so that everything would be painted by hand, so to speak.

My parents loved it!  In fact, they loved it so much, they kept it out all year long.

And years from now, this painting will be even more special as these kids become adults and look at their child-sized handprints, remembering all those wonderful holidays spent with family.