Thanksgiving is over, and that means it’s time to start planning those Christmas gifts. Getting young kids involved in this process can be a challenge, so I wanted to share this fun little project with you all as a gift idea! I did this last year with my daughter who was 4 at the time, but this could easily work for a wide variety of ages. It’s inexpensive, quick and easy, but also such a meaningful, hand-made gift that is sure to be treasured for years to come!
Supplies needed:
- Watercolor paper – the bigger the better
- Watercolor paint + brushes
- Pre-cut photo mats – for 5×7 frames
- Scissors/exacto knife
- Pencil
- White 5×7 picture frames (linked below)
- Little artist
First step is to get your kid’s painting! I purchased my watercolor paints and paper at Hobby Lobby, but you can also find them on Amazon. Crayola even makes a washable watercolor set if you’ve got a messy toddler. I prefer paper that is at least 8.5×11 (you’ll see why later) and I ask my kids to try and cover the entire paper with their little abstract creations. I let them paint as many pages as they can in one sitting so I have lots of options to work with.
Once the pages have dried I grab my pre-cut photo mats. Make sure they are sized for 5″x7″ frames. I prefer the thicker mats that leave a smaller opening for the artwork, but that’s totally a personal preference. This part takes some playing with, but I basically move the mat around the painting until I find a unique little piece. Sometimes I turn it on a diagonal, sometimes it lines up with the edge of the page, and sometimes I can get two paintings off of one page. Larger paper makes this process easier.
In the example above, I liked the little piece I found by lining up the mat with the edge of the paper. There really is no right or wrong when it comes to this part. Just play around with each painting and see what speaks to you! Once I’ve found the part of the painting I want to use, I trace around the outside edge of the photo mat with a pencil.
From here you can cut with scissors or an exacto knife. Now you’ve got a 5×7 cut painting and your photo mat ready to go.
I prefer a simple white frame with clean lines to display artwork. The one I’ve used here is from Target and only $3.50!
Place the photo mat into the frame followed by the cut watercolor, and you’re good to go! You’ve now got a tiny little one of a kind masterpiece to gift to someone special. We gifted these to grandparents and teachers last year and they were a huge hit. There’s nothing more special than a hand-made gift, and I love that it gets the kids involved in the gift giving process. I loved some of the ones my daughter painted last year so much that I kept a couple for myself and they are now a treasured part of my decor collection.
Here are some photos of other paintings we’ve put together. As I mentioned above, you can sometimes get two paintings off one page and you can create a little series and gift two paintings to be displayed together!
I hope this post was helpful! Gift giving can be hard sometimes so I wanted to share a unique project that would be fun and easy, but at the same time special and from the heart. Hope you all have a very happy holiday season 🙂
