Golden Handprints

Better late than never is the motto in our busy house with four kiddos running around. I've had these canvases for over a year now so instead of one year old hand prints, we now have two year old hand prints. Which may be easier to accomplish since you can explain to a two year old how to hold out their hands.

I started off putting tacks under the back side of the canvases, this way, you can paint the sides without sticking to the surface underneath. A paper plate for easy clean up and it makes a great spot to squeeze your paint. I painted two coats of Martha Stewart Surf in Satin onto the canvases with a foam brush. Then waited a day before pulling out the gold.

I started by letting my two year old rub her hand around in the gold (Martha Stewart Metallic Green Gold) paint and then flipped it over to paint the missing spots and take off the excess paint, so it wouldn't smear, with a clean foam brush.

 

Talking her through the steps and showing her with my hand what she needed to do, I helped push down on the back of her hand gently and then helped her pull it off of the canvas. We washed in between hand prints to keep the mess at bay. I think they turned out great and I'm glad we did both of them so we can remember her sweet little handprints for years to come! 

The gold was a fun touch and would make great gifts for family members with the holidays coming up. If you need to make more than one, trim up a piece of watercolor paper and you've got the perfect gift for Grandparents!