Teachers Appreciation Gifts: Hand Print Pillows

I can not believe that the end of school is nearly here again and I found myself yearning to make me all time favorite project - hand print pillows. You might remember that we made them first for Mother's Day and for teacher appreciation gifts last year. 

This year we had 3 pillows to make. A total of 21 children aged from 18months to 5 years popped around at one time or another to let me paint their hands and print them on fabric. With the age of the kids you are working with you just have to embrace the imperfections and go with it. This year I used Jacquard Fabric Paints & painted the leaves & stems onto the pillows.

Tissue Paper Dyed Silk Pillow

Here we decided to revisit our success as dying silk with tissue paper but this time use the technique to make a pillow. This is a super easy & quick no mess project that you can do on your own or with your little one.

Teacher Appreciation Gift: Hand Print Pillows

For my eldest bunny - we made her class teacher & classroom assistant hand print cushions.

You may remember that I made these before for Grandma on Mother's Day.

Each child in the class made his or her hand print using fabric paint.

I quilted the front of each cushion (experimenting with free motioning quilting - one continuous line in a heart pattern - not perfect ...

... way harder than it looks) and added some embellishments (felt flower pot & a bow.)

I wanted the pillows to be very fun and happy so this time I made a ruffle trim. (I have a new ruffler foot - which I would much recommend for endless hours of fun easy ruffles.)

I made labels for the back of the cushions so the teacher can identify who made each hand print. I favor a pillowcase closure for cushions - easy and prettier than a messy zipper (I am scared of zips!)

 

I hope you all have a wonderful summer holiday. I can't wait not to have to load all the kids in the car (twice) every morning for the school run and if you are wondering what to do with your little people this summer check out Fun at Home with Kids, Growing a Jeweled Rose and the Artful Parent for endless ideas for fun and inventive play.

Mother's Day: Hand Print Pillows

Mother's Day in the UK is on a different day than Mother's Day in the US. (This year Mother's Day in the UK was March 10th.) One would think that this would give me two days of pampering by my family - unfortunately - this is not the case! However we did need to send Granny a little gift to help her celebrate the day across the pond.

We decided to make her some pillows with hand and foot prints.

First we need to protect the floor so we stuck down some foil under a sheet of fabric. We did our feet and hand prints in a bathroom that hasn't been decorated in 45 years (literally!) so I wasn't too nervous about little hands and feet covered in paint.

First I had the girls sit on the floor and I painted their foot with a thick layer of fabric paint.

 I then helped them stand on the fabric to make our prints.

Once our prints were dry we added stems and leaves by potato printing. (In case you are wondering about the presence of Olivia the Pig - she is the class 'pet' and she was staying with us for the weekend.)
 

 We added a flower pot and a ribbon bow.

I quilted with some swirly whirly free hand quilting ...

... and added some fancy flange to the pillows.

 

Here are our finished cushions.

I opted for a  pillowcase opening sealed with a bright purple ribbon. Here is the back of the cushion.

Such a cute gift that I think any Granny would be thrilled to receive. Even our littlest (6 months) got his feet and hands in on the action - his first official art work!!