It's Leo season again, which means my head is allover the place trying to keep up with all the upcoming birthdays including my own and my husband's. (Yes, we have the same exact birthday!) Most of my family with the exception of a few, all have birthdays in July and August. From the the last week of July up until the second week of August I'm like a chicken with no head. Running around trying to plan get-togethers, dinners, buying birthday gifts, birthday cards, eating way too much cake, the list goes on!
My mother-in-law's birthday is a day before my dad's birthday. Her sister had already planned a girl's brunch for the day of and her husband (my father-in-law) also planned a dinner and cake later the same day. Being that everyone had already planned the day, that left me with more time to think of a really good present for her.
I wanted to give her something special that would come from my daughter. I also had to make sure it was something that was fairly inexpensive because of all the other birthday gifts I knew I would have to buy in the next few days. I remembered I still had a stash of blank canvases and acrylic paints at my father's apartment, so I decided to create a painting.
Below, I have shared with you some quick and easy instructions on how to create your very own master-piece for that special someone you would like to surprise. This gift has been one of the most inexpensive yet fulfilling gifts I have ever given someone. My mother-in-law loved her gift and she said it was one of the best gifts she had ever received. Sometimes, the things that say the most are the things that cost the least because it holds great sentimental value.
MATERIALS:
- set of acrylic paint (*be sure to have green, red, and blue)
-a blank canvas (*I used 30"x24" but you can use whatever size you like as long as it's big enough to get your baby's hands and foot prints on it.)
-paint brushes
-pencil
DIRECTIONS:
1) Using a pencil, lightly draw out the stems and leaves, leaving room on the bottom and top of the canvas for your poem and your baby's prints.
2) Using a pencil, lightly write the poem or quote you would like to use at the bottom of the canvas starting with "Roses are red, violets are blue..."
3) Measure the placement of your baby's hands and feet on the stems you have drawn out to be sure you have enough room at the top. This is the best time also to plan where you would like to place each hand and foot.
4) Paint in the stems and leaves you have drawn.
5) Using a very thin brush, paint the words you have already penciled in at the bottom of the canvas.
6) While you allow what you have painted for a few minutes, prep on a flat surface (I used a plate) the blue and red paint you will use for your baby's hands and feet. *The hands will be BLUE for violets and the feet will be RED for roses.
7) Now comes the difficult part, you may need another person helping you to do this in order to get the prints on the canvas without it becoming a smudged mess. Place your baby's hand or foot whichever you'd like to start off with in the paint making sure the entire area is covered in paint.
8) Wait for your baby to open up their hand or foot before placing it where you want on the canvas. Once you place it on the canvas, carefully lift your baby's hand or foot without smudging the paint.
9) Repeat 7-9 until you have all 4 prints on the painting.
10) You may or may not want to add a little background color to fill the canvas. I did because my canvas had been in storage for a long time so it had a lot of discoloration and markings on it. I added a fun and bright yellow color and topped it off with some sparkle!
11) Let dry for one day.
12) To make it more presentable, I bought some wrapping paper, a bow, and a card at my local dollar store. I wrapped it up with some ribbon I had at home and VUALAAA! You got yourself a hand made one of a kind gift for grandma!
If you do decide to try this, I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did. My helpers (my little sister and my dad) and I had so many laughs doing this. I truly enjoyed doing this activity with my daughter, it's something I can tell her about when she gets older. Someday when she goes visits grandma's house and she sees her painting, I will tell her how we created that together...
...Sew This is Life!