Thanksgiving Thumbprint Tree Canvas

I’m a sucker for all those adorable finger print, foot print, hand print art pieces our little ones come home with in the early years of school. As the children grow up their personalized artwork are few and far between. Having teens now I miss those days and I struggle to find ideas for them for the holidays.

When I found this idea on Pinterest for a wedding guest book I got the idea it would be perfect for our Thanksgiving with all the extended family. You see, my kids and my sister’s son are all between the ages of 11 and 15 and the traditional thanksgiving crafts are just not cutting it. I see the eye rolls when I ask them to gather to make their handprint turkeys. I don’t blame them. It’s lame! Well, for them anyway. But they still do it because they know how happy it makes me. This year they were surprised to find a canvas tree in the place of the paint and paper and I think it went over great with the whole family.

To start you’ll need

1 – 11x14 Canvas

1 – 8” tall tree cut from paper or painted onto the canvas

3-4 ink pads (preferably fall colors)

1 – Black Marker for Name lettering

1 – can of clear acrylic spray

I cut a tree silhouette out with my die cut machine and glued it down to the canvas prior to meeting for Thanksgiving. Since we are a small family I asked each person to do 2 leaves each. Once everyone had added their leaves I wrote our name on the canvas using a black marker and sprayed the whole canvas with the clear spray to ensure it lasts for many years. I think this Thanksgiving with Teens was a success!