Hand Print Bouquet - DIY Tutorial

My mother had surgery recently and my kids wanted to send their Nana some flowers while she was in hospital. Now while flowers are a lovely thing to receive, they can be quite expensive and let's face it, they die! My mother is also highly allergic so it was an all round bad idea.

So I took some inspiration from a Mother's Day gift one of my boys had made for me at kinder this year and together the kids and I made her this gorgeous hand-print bouquet:

It was so easy to do and the kids could get involved as well, which they just loved. Here are some tips that I learned through the process:

• Hand prints work best when you paint the hand and they then stamp the paper with it. Dipping in a tray of paint might sound like a good idea... it wasn't.
• While you can use whatever color scheme you like, I found it easier to keep it to one color per child (they chose their colors). That way I (and Nana later on) could identify which hand print belonged to which child.
• I now know that it is near impossible to get a hand print from an 8 month old. Foot prints, while still difficult to get without help (shout out to my very helpful 5 year old) were much easier and looked great mixed in with the hand prints for a bit of added interest.
• I added the 'leaves' for a bit of color and authenticity. The boys and I just cut these from colored paper.
• When the kids go to wash the paint off their hands, make sure that they don't make a stop at the toilet on the way because they 'forgot' (we won't mention any names). You will find paint in places you didn't know it was possible for paint to go. 
• The hand / foot prints don't need to be cut out perfectly. The rough border makes them quicker and easier to cut, it keeps them sturdy and it means that the kids can get involved and help with the cutting too. I also like the effect.

Once you have all your flowers  hand/foot prints you can then arrange them.

Work out your bouquet / paper sizes first so you know what you are working with. This can be done on a large scale (ours was pretty big on an A2+ piece of card) or much smaller (the one I received from kinder was on an A3 size).
Then get to arranging to get the look you are going for:

• I just used Clag (paste for paper and card) to stick them on but any craft type glue would work, it doesn't need a super-hold.
• It might be hard to visualise what the flat arrangement will look like when pulled into a cone shape. I kept picking mine up and curling it to get a better idea.
• I also liked letting the hand prints stick up over the card base to give more of that 'flower' effect.

 As you can see the hand prints don't need to be perfect or uniform either.

• Once you are done and your glue is dry you just pull your base card paper around at the bottom into a cone/bouquet shape and stick (or staple for a stronger hold).
• I then also used a contrasting colored paper wrapped around the bottom of the bouquet, florist style' to hide my joins, which I thought was a nice effect.

My mother absolutely loved this gift and I did too when I received my smaller version. It is thoughtful, hand-made, representative of the kids / grandkids and is something to treasure for longer than the usual week that actual flowers last. 

This is a super-easy DIY that the kids can get involved with, which makes it all the more special for the receiver. It would be a perfect gift for Mother's Day, a get well gift, or any gift for a mother or grandmother who cherishes their children.