Baby Hands Christmas Wreath

This wreath makes the best present!  Especially for grandmothers!  A handprint craft that is also sophisticated and beautiful. 

I used this to commemorate three children's hand size one Christmas, they were ages 3 years, 18 mos. and a newborn.  It could be for just one child and all one color, or you could still use different colors and make smaller wreaths, one for each child, etc.  It's really open for your personal touch.  I made the hand templates a couple of ways.  For the older two, we traced their hands on card stock and cut them out to make the templates.  For the newborn (or for less cooperative little ones of any age) I approximated the tracing from a handprint made with an ink pad.  I used three different shades of green felt that I thought looked nice together.  The darkest green was for the oldest grandchild, the middle one got the bright green and the newborn (the only boy) got the lightest and most contrasting shade.  I checked out a couple of different craft stores, as they actually carried very different color selections of sheet felt.

This even works when you can't get to all the kids in person.  You can have someone trace or print the child's hand and mail it to you, so all the babies are represented!

Supplies:

styrofoam wreath (I used a 12" one)
green felt
cardstock
sharpie
pointy little scissors
green yarn
hot glue & gun
ball tipped pins
sawtooth picture hanger (optional)
decorations of choice (optional)
green thread (optional)
sewing needle (optional)
squeeze paint (optional)

I didn't get pictures of the process, so they're all of the finished wreath, but I hope it's still clear enough from my instructions!

Step 1 Covering your wreath

Wrap styrofoam wreath tightly with green yarn, securing it frequently with tiny dots of hot glue (larger globs will puff up and look messy) every few inches. 

None of the styrofoam should show when you are finished.  Just take the skein of yard and loop it around through the hole in the wreath many, many times.  This is honestly the most difficult part of the whole process!  When you've made it all the way around, pick the neatest looking side (you'll probably end up with some glue blobs anyway) of the wreath to be the back, because the front will be covered up.  Cut the yarn and glue down the end on the front of the wreath, so it will be hidden behind the hands.

- Second pic you can kind of see my yarn end and where the glue blobs up a bit.