Quick and Easy Christmas Gift

I know, it is just now May (not even July) and nowhere near Christmas time, but as I have said before, I write as they come to me. There is no rhyme or reason, just that if I don't write it down when it pops into my head, I will forget it!!

A few weeks ago I talked about making Christmas wrapping paper. Well today I am going to share a really easy and meaningful Christmas gift that your kids can make. This can also be use simply as a holiday decoration.

SUPPLIES:
burlap (this can be purchased at a fabric store or Walmart stores in the fabric dept)
2 wooden dowels (the thickness doesn't really matter)
Craft Paint (NOT WASHABLE) - Red, Green and Yellow
old paint clothes (since the paint is not washable, protect your clothing)
hot glue gun with glue sticks
Christmas Ribbon


To begin, make sure that your work surface and child is fully protected as this paint is NOT WASHABLE. Cut the burlap to fit the wooden dowels. Lay the burlap out. Place a bead of hot glue along the edge and center one wooden dowel on top of glue. Continue gluing until the dowel is wrapped completely in burlap. Repeat for the bottom.

Once you have your "wall hanging" you are ready to paint. You are going to want to paint "upside down" meaning you are going to be painting with the fingers up but when hung, the fingers will be pointing down. To do this, you simply place the "top" of the burlap closest to your body and the "bottom" of the burlap away from you.

Starting with the green paint, paint your child's hand completely and paint a row of hand prints near the "bottom" of the burlap (furthest away from you). Make sure that you reload your child's hand with paint often. Making a pyramid, move up one row and repeat, the number of hands getting smaller and smaller. Repeat until you have only one hand print at the top. (see picture for clearer understanding). Wash the green paint completely from their hands and move on the next task.

With the red paint, simply paint the fingertips or the thumbprint in red and have the child paint the "ornaments" on the tree.

For the star at the top, you can either paint freehand with a paint brush or you can use your child's hand print (this time with the fingers facing UP, opposite than the tree). Simply cover the hand in yellow paint and place hand on top of tree. You can also use a star sponge.

After the painting is completely dry, you can write the child's name and date on the bottom of the hanging with a sharpie and glue some Christmas ribbon to the dowel to create a way to hang this wonderful Christmas surprise.