Handprint Trees Wrapped Canvas

I've had a bare wall in my dining room that needed a little decoration.  I'd even picked up a blank canvas on sale that would fit the spot, I was just waiting for inspiration.  Luckily, the inspiration came after seeing the beautiful Cherry Blossoms in bloom in Washington, DC this weekend.  A little Spring-themed art would be perfect.

I also wanted to incorporate the kids into the project, but I didn't want it to scream " This is kids' artwork!" since it was in the main living area and there's already lots of their artwork on the fridge, in their rooms and around the house.  I'm really happy with the way this turned out.  I think at first glance, it looks like pretty, 3-dimensional cherry blossoms and then you notice that the trees themselves were made from the kids' handprints.  My husband didn't even realize it until I pointed it out to him (but, then again, he's not always the most observant! ;)  )

A close up of one of the trees.

Want to know the best part?  The whole thing cost me $8.  I'd picked up the 12x24" canvas on sale for $6 and the burlap for the background was $2 (plus I have leftovers).  The fabric scraps for the trees and blossoms?  I actually pulled those from a pile of clothes that were worn out and ready to be donated or trashed.

Corduroys with worn out knees and some stretched-out long johns!

Here's how I did it:

SUPPLIES:

• 12"x24" canvas (perfect size for three hands, grab a smaller size for one or two)
• piece of burlap ( I used a yard with plenty leftover)
• scraps of fabric for handprint trees and flower blossoms
• hot glue gun
• iron on adhesive ( I used Heat n Bond Ultra hold)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Trace your child's hand and part of their arm on the paper side of your iron-on adhesive.

2.   Iron the Heat n Bond with the handprint onto the wrong side of your tree trunk fabric.   Then cut out your tree trunks and set aside.

3.  Cut out your burlap to be slightly larger than your canvas.  You'll want it large enough to wrap around the sides and onto the back.

4.  Wrap your burlap around the canvas.  I put a small line of hot glue on the back edge of the canvas, pulled the burlap tight and pressed it onto the glue (using a spoon so the hot glue didn't seep through the holes in the fabric and burn!)  I then folded over any excess burlap on the back and glued it down to finish the back a little more.

Burlap wrapped canvas is ready to go!

5.  Peel the paper backing off your handprints and iron them in place on the burlap.  It actually worked quite well, I just put a potholder under the open part of the canvas to press up and make a more solid surface to press the iron down on.

Our three handprints!

6.  Now, get to work cutting out your cherry blossoms.  This was definitely the most tedious part, but you don't have to be exact.  For the petals, I cut out some puffy, plus sign shapes and then smaller circles of the darker pink and white colors.

7.  To make the blossoms, I used a squirt and smush technique.  Squirt a bit of hot glue on the darker pink circle, then bunch up and smush on the white circle.  Then, squirt a bit more of hot glue in the center of your petals, put your centers in place, then smush and pinch the back part to make your blossom three dimensional.

8.  Begin hot gluing your blossoms onto your tree.   Keep going until they are filled with the pretty blossoms.  I made mine so the trees had a good amount of blossoms, but the handprints were still somewhat visible.

9.  And you're finished!  You have a pretty Spring wall hanging that captures your child's handprints from this year.  What a cute Mother's Day gift this could make for the grandmas!  Oh, and I'm totally going to use my leftover burlap to make a Fall wall hanging with Autumn leaves.