It is my mother’s birthday on June 17 and I needed to think of a meaningful gift.
We are not a ‘present’ family, meaning that we do not place a lot of emphasis on expensive gifts, but I always get both my parents something small and (hopefully) meaningful.
This year, I decided to give something inspired by my children. They are growing so fast and I wanted something that captured them as little children and their love for my mother.
After a lot of thought, I settled on framing their hand prints with a little quote, signifying our thoughts on Grandma.
After finding the right words to use, I searched the internet for a company that would custom make a vinyl that I could use (as my handwriting would never compare to something professionally done). To my surprise, it was so easy to find a company (who, btw, also print on mugs and do sandblasting on glass – they might be my new go-to gift supplier). I also purchased a frame.
If you would like to grab a version of the words I used, please do so by clicking on the image/words below.
I then printed a grey chevron background and marked off the size that I would need to fit in the frame.
I mixed a light pink paint for Megan and a light blue paint for Adam. I painted Adam’s hand first – quite an achievement to keep his hands out of the paint and then from touching everything with his painted hand – and quickly placed it on the chevron paper, leaving behind a tiny little hand print. I decided to make two copies, so that I could choose the better of the two. Then I painted and printed Megan’s hand.
Which one do you prefer? I went with the one on the left.
You can’t really make out the lines which indicated the frame size in this picture but it is positioned in the middle of the page. I used an A5 size frame.
Once the paint had dried, I cut out the section needed and chose the better version.
I needed to use a hairdryer to help ease the vinyl onto the glass of the frame – yes, I put the vinyl on the glass and not the paper. I think it stands out more than if it were printed onto the paper after the hand prints were done – although printing it would make it more cost effective.
I am happy with the result and can’t wait for my children to present my mom with her gift.
