Last Halloween Lucky and I made a "Trick or treat, smell my feet" handprint and footprint wall hanging. Having this hang in the entry way of my my house made me unreasonably happy but it would be a little strange to keep a Halloween themed hanging up all year round. I considered making a winter hanging but since I was pregnant with Rowdy I thought it would be worth waiting to make a winter one when they could both contribute. I therefore started panning a Spring and Valentine's Day themed print that my whole family could be a part of. (Minus Indy. One of these days the puppy can join in on the paw print fun!)
I painted three 9x12" canvases blue, purple and red with the cheap acrylic paints you can find at your local paint store. Some of these required multiple coats of paint to get good coverage but with patience I finally achieved the backdrop colors I wanted.
For the family prints canvas, we started with Keith's pink hand print and then my blue hand print. No gender color stereotypes in this house hold! We each practiced on some scrap paper before committing our prints to the canvas. (Note - it is easier to paint your hand with a sponge brush to make the print than to make enough paint to dip your entire hand into it.) If we had spread our hands out wider we wouldn't have had those triangles in the center, but I still love the way it starts.
Rowdy is still under a month old, which means that it will be hard to keep his hand open wide enough for a hand print. We'll test it out on some scrap paper before attempting to do it on the family prints canvas. Ultimately, if we need to do a newborn footprint I'm okay with that.
The tests went great but when it was time to print his handprint on top of mine we got some smudges and lost some fingers. I did the print a second time right on top of it and you ALMOST can't tell that it isn't perfect. I don't want to minimize that I was disappointed but now that it has been hanging on my wall for months I have to say that I really don't notice that it isn't perfect, I just see my human family.
Meanwhile the prints for the LOVE panel went perfectly. Lucky loved stamping his hand (as usual) and footprints are the easiest thing to do with a young baby.
"More footprints! I do some more footprints pleeeeaaaseee" - Lucky
I picked two different 5/8" ribbon to glue the canvases together. I chose the burlap red and white hearts because it worked better with the set. 3 yards of ribbon is plenty for the hanging.
I turned the canvases over and glued the ribbon to the back with white craft glue. When it is dry sometimes I add a layer of packing tape over the ribbon to secure it but this hanging didn't really need that. (Rowdy's Dinosaur chalkboard didn't stick well so the tape helped.)
After drying overnight I was ready to hang it up! It makes me smile to see it every day as I walk by it.
