DIY Fathers Day Craft Gift for kids | Handprint Beach Theme | Dana Marie Photography

If you are anything like me you waited until the last minute to do something for Father's Day.  I went to sign my kids up for a local craft get together and I was too late, the spots had been filled.  I searched and searched on Pinterest but didn't find quite what I was looking for so using an idea on how to make handprint jellyfish, I came up with this neat canvas.  This was super easy and only took about an hour when using a hairdryer to speed up the drying process.

You will need the following to recreate this look:

Hairdryer
Canvas (this is a 12x36 but could be any size)
Watercolor Paint - Blue & Red
Finger Paint - Various Colors, Atleast a Blue Sparkle, Silver Sparkle, Black
Acrylic Paint - Green
Paintbrushes of Different Sizes

1) Coat the canvas in blue watercolor paint.  You want to get the whole front and the sides.  Once you have coated the canvas, you can blowdry it to speed up the drying and when it is relatively dry you are going to add in red in different areas to make a "purple wash look".

2) Once you have gotten your water background done and it is blended nicely you are going to blowdry until it is completely dry.  I was using the dryer on a high setting but held away so it didn't make water drops run across the canvas.  I was also pushing the cool button so I didn't melt the canvas.

3) Make children's handprints on the canvas.  Layer them with the thumbs in the middle so it looks like the fingers are tentacles.  Let the paint sit a few minutes and then dry well with the hair dryer.  Again hold it away so it doesn't smear your paint as this part will be thick.

4) Make seaweed on the bottom of the canvas using the acrylic paint.  Make it in thick layers so you can't see through it.  Blowdry and and let sit.  When it is just about dry add in some darker green accents using the finger paint.

5) Make bubbles using a sparkly blue paint.  Drop in small circles all over your canvas.  When I did the watercolor portion on ours I noticed natural circles that already looked like floating bubbles so I just filled those in with the sparkly paint.

6) When the jelly fish are dry add two black dots for eyes and when the black dots dry you can add in a touch of silver sparkly or white paint for catchlights to give them some life.

Voila.  Let it sit overnight to dry and it will be ready to hang.  All of the items were purchased from a local Michael's craft store and some of the paint I already had.  With the 50% off sale on canvas our total for this project was about $30.  Happy Crafting!