Ballerina Handprint Art

I have been struggling with doing a gallery wall for my daughter's room. I just get overwhelmed by the blankness of the wall and the vast space to fill.  Well, Michelle at The Nature of Grace shared a beautiful idea for a little ballerina wall hanging and asked to share her tutorial.

I think that you will agree that it's an adorable idea!  What makes it even more precious is that you use your daughter's handprints! Here's her tutorial.....

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I suppose the "endless" clouds of tulle draped about my daughter's waist just looked so akin to bunches of handprints that my brain made the necessary connection between the two and the idea for this fun craft began to take shape.  

With all the hundreds of thousands of other mommies of petite prima ballerinas out there, I cannot imagine someone else has not thought of this same thing - but here is our version!  

Materials:  

canvas (find at arts and crafts store or see link below), paint, pink paper, regular white paper, glue, ribbon or rhinestones or other embellishments.

How To:

1.  Paint a hanger onto your canvas. (You may want to draw this with a pencil first.)


2.  Fold a white piece of paper in half (hot dog style) and draw half of leotard shape (length-wise).  Cut this out, open it up and you should have a symmetrical leotard shape.


3.  Trace that shape onto your pink paper and cut it out.  Glue to the hanger you painted and let it dry.


4.  Paint your daughter's hands and place them on the canvas around the leotard to create a full tutu effect.  


On ours, we used four handprints in a light pink first, then after those had dried, we made two more handprints on top of the light pink handprints in a darker pink shade.  Allow these to dry. 
(If you are using a pre-stretched canvas, you may want to place a book under the area of canvas where your child will be placing her handprints to avoid her denting or pushing through the canvas.)


5.  Glue a section of pink ribbon and a bow around the waist of your "tutu".  Make and glue a smaller bow to the top of your leotard or the hanger.  You might also want to add other embellishments of your own to the leotard and tutu (rhinestones, real tulle, etc.).


6.  Admire and display your cutie's handprints! 

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Thanks SO much, Michelle, for sharing this idea!  I'm thinking of incorporating this into my daughter's artwork gallery wall!!

Michelle has some other really creative ideas over at The Nature of Grace....like this hatching words jar......

....and these really fun ladybug crafts

and folder games for math!

I'm off to make some pink tutu's!