I came across a kraft paper made Magnolia wreath for Christmas on this blog and thought using Ava's hands would be perfect :)
When I saw Ava for my Birthday, I traced her hands, both left and right, on a piece of white paper.
When I got home, I traced them with a black marker, cut them out, traced the cut outs to get 2 more, and put 2 of each onto a second white piece of paper. I scanned them on my printer and printed them on green paper. Looking back I could have skipped that step by tracing her hands twice on one sheet of paper, tracing all 4 with a marker and scanning that piece of paper to be printed on green paper.
I was kind of bummed that these were the only two shades of green printing paper available, I didn't feel like they were very Christmas-y, but I LOVE the end result. I also had to buy them in a rainbow pack of neon coloured paper, so now we have to think of some more crafts to do :)
Next up I needed to get some cardboard to cut out the wreath back. Luckily we bought our Christmas tree this year and I didn't need to keep the box. I used some large mixing bowls and cut out as many wreath backs as I could get out of the cardboard. You just never know when you are going to need some giant cardboard circles!
This next step is important, you will need to paint the cardboard green so that none of the brown shows through the hand prints. Don't forget the inside and outside of the wreath where the cardboard is corrugated, because this might be seen from the side when the wreath is hanging or reflecting off a mirror.
It will take a few coats to cover the cardboard because it is going to suck up the paint. Just keep coating it until it is covered well. I just used the craft paint from the dollar store and one of those sponge brushes they sell in a 5 pack.
Once all those little hands are cut out (its going to take awhile so ask your boyfriend to help you while you watch the Football game!) you can start gluing them to the painted cardboard wreath, I just used white school glue. I was trying to alternate each colour on the inside and outside but once you add and add and add it isn't going to matter. Let each row dry before you start the next so the hands don't all move around on you.
Eventually your wreath will look like this. See what I mean about all the hands and the alternating colours? I folded some hands up as well so the wreath wasn't so flat. I bought these string beads to cut and glue randomly around the wreath to look like Holly, but when I was done I needed them to cover where the inside and outside hands met. The string went around two and a half times so I needed to cut it, and of course the beads went flying all over the kitchen floor. I just went around with the glue gun and made sure to put a lot of glue on the end of the string so they wouldn't fall off.
I picked up this ribbon from the Dollar store. I thought its bright colours and graphic pattern went well with the wreath, I also liked how it had circles all over it, similar to a wreath. I just stapled it to the back of the wreath a few times so it wouldn't fall off when hung.
See what I mean about the side view of the wreath and being able to see the unpainted cardboard??
I loved making this wreath for Ava to give to her Mommy & Daddy. I was a little sad I didn't get to keep it for myself because I just LOVE how it turned out. It isn't the typical traditional Christmas style I am used to, but I love its modern look and graphic colour and shape.
I don't know what I am going to come up with next year to top this, but thank goodness I have some time to figure it out!
Come back soon, and I'll share with you what else I've made :)
-AR
