Hand Print Planter: Mother's Day Gift

I just love now that I have a kid I can do fun artsy fartsy personalized gifts for grandparents.  This year we made flower boxes for both of Ben's grandmas.

It was super simple. We did hand prints on one side, and text on the other. You can make it even easier: handprints only on both sides. Or, you can do a fancier stencil, or Modge Podge photos. Whatever you think Grandma would like.



First, get yourself the planter. You can either build yourself a simple planter box, or buy one. We planned to build our own, but we both got swamped with work in the end of April. We were glad to find these so easily at our hardware store even if we do lose a few DIY points. These red cedar planter boxes were purchased from Menards for less than 10 bucks each.

One evening before tubby time, we set up the supplies to roll art paint onto Ben's hands. It seemed like the simple and quick part of the project. We got the camera ready for a photo opt. "The pictures would be so cute to show the grandmas!"  It ended up being a bit more chaotic. Instead of documenting the event with photos as we'd imagined, it went a little something like this:

"Look Ben, we're making your grandmas Mother's Da-- ucky no, no."

"Don't let him touch his mouth!"

"You're smearing it!"

"Don't rush me."

"Hurry, I need a rag."

"NO. Do not eat it."

"Crap, it's on the dog!"

Sounds fun huh. After that mess, this is what we ended up with on the planters.

After the baby was cleaned and put to bed, I poured myself a diet coke and got to work.  Stenciling was easy and sort of relaxing. I traced with pencil, then went over the stencil once more with a q-tip and the paint. They're weren't perfect of course.

The grooves of the wood made it hard to get each letter lined up, but we're going for the rustic look today.

I went over the boxes with one coat of Minwax Early American the next day. I was going to leave them unfinished, but decided to give it a shot, and I liked them even more. In between the stenciling of the Grandma boxes and the staining---I made my own planter box for my herbs. However for mine I decided to skip the hand prints. It was not as easy as it was cute.

Then we planted.

I like how my herb box turned out too. I did skim Pinterest text ideas more interesting than 'fresh herbs' but I typically go for basic, and basic it was again. I'm happy with it.

Ben seemed pleased with his work.

What would you do to personalize your planter box? Add photos? A design?

Pin it, share it, and save it for Mother's Day Gift idea next year!

Next, we're sharing more basement updates!