Much Cleaner Than Their Actual Handprints

For Fathers’ Day, I wanted to make gifts that were similar to the fingerprint trees I made the grandmothers for Mothers’ Day, but more masculine.  I had seen an idea on Pinterest with handprints cut out of scrapbook paper, then Princess Thundercloud brought home a version for her daddy with her handprints in paint.

I decided to make ours incorporating a photo of each hooligan.


I made this much more complicated than I needed to, in retrospect.  I traced each of their hands on white paper and scanned it into the computer.  Then, using Photoshop, I deleted everything but the outline of their hand and pasted it on top of their photo. It would have worked to just print out a photo the approximate length of their hand, then traced their hand directly onto the photo and cut it out. Crafting is a process, right?

While I was doing the photo piece, the boys painted 11x14 flat canvases with some light turquoise paint.  They’re already primed, so it only took one coat to cover.  They were 3 for about $6 at Michael’s, I think. And I had a 40% off coupon, so dirt cheap.

After I printed the photos on matte presentation paper (not photo paper) and cut the hands out, I used matte Mod Podge to adhere them to the completely dry canvas and let it dry.  Next, I brushed a coat of Mod Podge over the whole thing, using a 2” brush with bristles (instead of my usual foam choice) and brushing first one way then perpendicular.  It gives the look of canvas on the whole thing.

Lastly, I used a Sharpie to write the message.  The hooligans signed the back.


I was planning to give the grandpas an easel with theirs, but decided I’d rather use a ribbon to hang them and finish them off.  My Crop-a-dile easily punched through the canvas, then I knotted the ends of a wide piece of ribbon on the back side of each hole.

The hooligans also helped me make some “Chubby Hubby” bars to send their papas.  The kids thought they were excellent…I thought they were a bit bland.  Maybe it was too many flavors or not enough of each…they were basically Toll House cookie dough with some peanut butter and crushed pretzels stirred in, spread in a 9x13 pan, then topped with more crushed pretzels, PB chips, and chocolate chips.

If you’d like to try them, you can find the recipe here, at Food.com.  Since those are all of our favorite foods, I’ll try them again, bumping up the flavors a bit more.

Hope you have a “hand-y” day!

By the way, I'm sharing this over at The Taylor House