After my mother-in-law made a passing comment about "is this it?" re: my Christmas decorations I have been feeling that something is missing, that I should have more. It's a horrible feeling I try to stamp out -- I want to want LESS and to ultimately be satisfied with what I have in
every aspect of my possessions, including Christmas. It's a constant battle.
In any case I decided to make this baby hand Christmas wreath. First, Jane loves to have her hand traced, and two it seemed easy. I bought the construction paper (got a multi-pack so I can use other colors for other things later) and a red bow for the top of the tree.
Because Jane and I have November birthdays and because I am unable to throw out most perfectly good boxes, we have quite a collection of cardboard in our house. I used a dinner plate and a salad plate to make a wreath base -- just traced around them onto a flattened Amazon box.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuZk9kkPPCgzE2bsuz22zuEE75J9IecmjDDe0-LSTBpY8js1VWQUN6Ufr0E_xn8BfkDNOIfCOUKionP2GOT0IRrGCJZhDNrM72iCgxLzOR3RWvSBUC4es603u6Fi4MSrZWHLeBA/s320/BabyHandWreath_step1.jpg) |
Step 1: Trace plates for wreath base |
Cutting the cardboard was a real pain in the hand. My scissors aren't the best, and there's got to be a better way. Since it is a small circle I just powered through the pain and ended up with this. I mollify myself about the inconsistency and wonkiness by saying it adds to the kid-like quality of the project (and the base will be covered by baby hands so it doesn't really matter!).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4tgKxtHVADC1QdQD9yKwD56FoUH3QCJl_JG9gpuz6-DP9F_46-UoiHl1OGZHaKZJ73ETBISFO5FL7K_sx3Wswe3buzkIrD_ismyXlKDyIoE0m9aB34HFsRnOKhDtnZpFDhAp8g/s320/BabyHandWreath_step2.jpg) |
Step 2: Cut out wreath base |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxS_bV9V3LxvBuNFz68hvBxm7TDh7DvtXcIRVO-htDgduh_LzgpIV6Ezv2Fou_cz3BuDvntu01KNgfzfc8crZSbonwEph4vVsqcPDzZk4TJkEelMJZ3dPFJeKkWdCFacbKaxnsYQ/s320/BabyHandWreath_step3.jpg) |
Step 3: Trace a baby hand and cut out |
I traced her hand twice and then cut out four sheets at a time (which also hurt my hand because of my janky scissors, but I powered through). She was over it so I had to use one of the cutouts to do the last two tracings. I cut out a total of 16 baby hands, just flipping them over alternating when I placed them on the wreath base.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGwIJWxxXA-gq-0mr7aoLT0F3kymrIk4Pb_MUCDCxVaqOwv22rp8i94JQzjtVbpw9-kykrR2pAkgK9-3a_0nRA4tRtaWZfK_3Sfmvjy_dguy6iFtMg-wm4spmdw7GKFwb0mTZonA/s320/BabyHandWreath_step4.jpg) |
Step 4: Arrange the baby hands on the wreath base and secure in place |
I positioned my baby hands with fingers pointing out. I've seen pictures online of them staggered and more sideways around the wreath (also using two colors of green, which looked nice). I attached the paper using loops of Scotch tape, but double sided tape, glue or anything similar would work. This isn't very heavy work. I just made sure to cover up my deformed base as much as possible and keep the pen-marked tracings with the pen-mark toward the back.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pTNonsTktS1P32Yz1IhYTwXJdKQJVvYultlQg4ZDu6st48uKvAO-jTqGQkno6h7HJFiSXjT6WGhXXldTOYbB-X_vaPuwWo2-XyVsURCVOaZ8g1p6qfON912N3cwUHvg_ayB0NQ/s320/BabyHandWreath_step5.jpg) |
Step 5: Add an optional red bow and hang up |
I used the red gift bow to anchor the wreath and add a pop of red. I've also seen the idea of adding red circles as holly on a wreath like this. This gift bow came with twisty ties attached, so I just poked holes through the top of the wreath (hands and base) and twisted it in the back. I used tape again to attach the wreath to the window part of our front door. It looks very cute from the front and even looks a bit festive from outside.
Baby hands!
No comments:
Post a Comment