I know Christmas is over, but I had to wait until after Christmas to write this post. This was a gift for both sets of Jansen’s grandparents and myself, so I needed to keep this off the internet until they received the gift.
I needed a solution for displaying my Christmas cards. When the year is over, I punch a hole in the corner of each card and put a ring through them so I have a book of each year of cards. I put our card on the top so I can easily see which year is which. Anyway, I needed a way to display the current year’s card throughout the Christmas season.
I had seen some clothespin wreaths on Pinterest that I thought were pretty cute but sort of boring. But I had also seen some handprint wreaths on there. So I decided to combine them into one fantastic clothespin handprint wreath.
Ta da!
I think the instructions are pretty self explanatory. Basically you need a ring of some sort (I used an embroidery hoop), a pack of clothespins, green construction paper in a couple different shades, green paint, red paint, and wood glue.
Paint your hoop and your clothespins green. I used a couple different shades but I don’t think it’s necessary since you can’t really see much of them. Let these dry really well and then arrange them around your hoop. Face most of them outward, but every 4th or 5th should be inward. Use wood glue to attach the pins to the hoop. You’ll need to balance them perfectly if your hoop is thin like mine. It took a while.
Let the glue dry overnight.
Trace your child’s hand on the construction paper. Do both hands and do it several times. If your child is two, each hand will look a bit different because of his inability to stand still. Cut them out. You’ll need quite a few, but the quantity really depends on how big your hoop is. Just lay them around the hoop as you
cut them out so you will know when to stop.
Then just glue the hands around the pins. I added red fingerprints around the wreath because I thought it was a cute touch!
It turned out so adorable. If I was really hardcore and had more time on my hands, I would have laminated the hands. I’m sure when I take this out of the attic next year, all the fingers will be bent and I will be sad.
I hope you like it! The grandmas did!
I love it! When I was keeping Thomas the daycare made me a wreath with his handprints and footprints and his picture in the middle. So cute. Needless to say, it’s a “keeper”!
Weird. I don’t actually see the Hergenrader card displayed prominently on your cute wreath. Great project, but you should probably rearrange that.
Oh geez, now I’m worried someone who doesn’t know me…and that my love language is sarcasm will think that was serious.
We do love it! Should have taken a picture of mine too to show off. I hope mine is intact next year. I have it lying flat on top of all Christmas decorations so hopefully it will.
1. Died laughing at Tina’s comment and follow up disclaimer.
2. Cute project! What a fun way to show off the cards during the season!