Father's Day 2012

I had to wait and post this late because I didn't want anyone to tell Daniel or my dad what part of their Father's Day gift was (and we weren't visiting my dad until last week). Here's how this project started...the week before Father's Day weekend, I decided that I wanted something more sentimental to give Daniel. I decided this oh...around Wednesday. My friend, Jaime, gave me a general idea and that's what sparked it. Before then I was so consumed with normal life and busy at work to think sentimental (shame on me). As you may recall, I made this for Daniel last year which is a shadow box of his dad's military medals.

Anywhoozle...I started Googling ideas and decided that handprints of the boys were the best option given my time frame. (although I did get some brilliant ideas for Christmas)

First let me share how we spent the weekend, after Cole was displaced from his seat by a very rude Pug (ahem...Stella), we spent the weekend working outside, relaxing and normal weekend activities. Daniel didn't want to do anything special so we just took it in stride.

As for his gifts, we got him some movies (Sherlock Holmes, the 2nd Ghost Rider and John Carter). If you didn't know, Daniel and I are huge movie watchers and we like to add to our collection as we can. It's what we do when we often times can't find anything to watch on TV. In addition, we bought him something he'd never get for himself - tinting for the front windows of his truck. And then there was the sentimental part...

This is to remind you when
 I have grown so tall,
that once I was quite little
and my hands were very small.

This is something anyone can do inexpensively. I got the the details from this blog. I still think hers looks better than mine but maybe it's because I need to practice more or maybe it's the paper I used. I think hers matched and coordinated a little better with her background. Anyway, I followed her suggestions but with a few tweaks.

Step 1:  paint a canvas - either mottled like mine or you can paint it one solid color (like my dad's). You can see below that this is mottled but for my dad's I just used red spray paint.

Step 2: cut out hand prints from any type of paper (thick wrapping paper, craft paper, leftover wall paper, etc). Be sure that you trace enough of their arm/wrist so you can adjust the length when you put it on your canvas. I had a friend come over and help me hence why you have no pictures of this step in the process. Getting two little boys under 2 to cooperate so I can trace their hands was no easy feat!

Step 3: after cutting the hands out, use Mod Podge to apply it to your canvas. Be sure that you leave enough room for the writing. I suggest cutting out the writing in step 4 and temporarily laying it on the canvas to be sure you place the hands in the right spot. When I did the mod podge, I put some on the canvas and then again over top of the hands, being sure to push down all the little fingers so they wouldn't curl.

Step 4: find your favorite saying or poem and print it in various fonts on regular paper. Once printed, turn it over and take a piece of chalk and rub it vigourously where the writing is on the reverse side. Don't go over the actual writing, you're doing this on the back of the paper. That way, when you trace it, the chalk will come off on the canvas.

Step 5: trace the writing on to the canvas. The chalk will stay on the canvas where you traced it since it's on the other side of the paper. You can also do this with pencil but I had better luck with chalk. Then take paint, a permanent marker or a paint marker and write over the chalk. The chalk or pencil will wipe off easily once you're done with the project.

Step 6 (optional): I sprayed a thin layer of clear acrylic over the project when it was dry so that the sheen was the same on the hands, paint and background. Made it look more uniform.

Here's a shot of my dad's:

You are the
World's Best
Pop-E
Hands Down!

Because of the space, I painted little stars around the middle of his since it looked a little plain. I also gently traced their hands in paint to better define them and put their names on the side of their hand print. That's all optional too.

The pictures don't do them justice...maybe that's the photographer and my rushed/secret state as I had to do this all incognito in 3 days. And maybe because I made 5 trips to Hobby Lobby until I finally figured out the paper situation and had my act together. That's what happens when you rush and don't think things through in projects like these!

Project Cost:
    canvas $4.99
    chalk $ free (already had)
    paint pen $1.99
    paper $ free (used scrapbooking paper but is 30 cents a peice if you had to buy)
    paint $3.99 for a small can (although mine was free since I already had this too)

          Total: $7 (or $12.50 if you didn't have all the supplies on hand)

Not bad! Both my dad and Daniel loved them and we'll always remember the boys when they were little now.

So what did you do for Father's Day? Any fun ideas you have for dad's? Daniel's birthday is coming up so suggestions are welcome!