We make handprint dishtowels every year at Christmas. They make a great gift for me and the grandparents and my boys really enjoy getting tickled by the paint on their hands.
I scope out the Target dollar section all year and I have been able to find cute dish towels there every year really cheap. I found these cute blue ones with purple flowers several months ago and put them up for Christmas gifts.
Before
I paint their hands with acrylic craft paint (washes off easily) and then press firmly on the towel and lift. I found painting the hands turns out a lot better than dipping the hand in paint first. It just tickles a little bit.
painting the hand
Press firmly on the hand
After I let the handprints dry I always write the date and their name on them with fabric paint. There are so many colors to choose from. Make sure to let the fabric paint dry flat for several hours too because it will stay sticky for awhile.
I make one set for me for my oven every year. This was lasts years set!
2010 towels
This is this years set for my oven! They turned out so cute.
Finished towels!
You can add more than one handprint or if you have a little one, like I did last year, you can do a footprint instead. Here is our bounty for this year. Two sets of grandparents and an aunt will get these. They have loved getting these every year and we have enjoyed making them.
Our towels 2011
Have you made anything lately with handprint and footprints? What did you make?
Love the hand and foot prints of the children. I done foot prints of my two grandchildren (4amd2),then took picture of them together which went into a frame in the center(8×10)and their foot prints on each end in( 5×7).all of this on one frame and it turned out awesome. Outs a gift for their mom and dad…I can hardly wait till Christmas to give to them..have a happy holiday..
Susan I love the idea of a picture and then footprints on it too! Great idea. Merry Christmas
[...] also love to do dish towels for grammy too. You can check one of them out by clicking HERE! Related [...]
Do you just wash them regular w/ the towels? And do you normally wash them before you give them as a gift?
If you don’t want to use them and just put them up for decoration then you don’t have to wash them and they look firm and crisp. BUT if you want to use them later then I would wash the towel and depending on the type of towel you may need to press it to get wrinkles out. This will keep them from shrinking after you put the handprint or footprint on them. I have a couple that I use and they wash fine. I just throw them in with my regular towels. Just wish a couple of them I had washed before I did them but they are still cute and usuable. Hope this helps! I used the acrylic paint in the little bottles you can find for a dollar at walmart or a craft store. It washes off kids good but stays on the fabric.