Handmade Thank You Cards

Back in November, I posted about painting with veggies.  We started out using celery, apples, and carrots to put paint to paper, but we ended up finger painting and making painted handprints too.  Messy fun!  Anyway, I tucked away the kids' painted 12x12 papers with thoughts of somehow turning their artwork into a keepsake.  Then December rolled in and we got swept up in advent calendar activities and prepping for Christmas company.  Once life settled down at the end of December, I thought about making thank you cards with the kids so they could thank family and friends for their Christmas gifts.  That's when I remembered the veggie paintings, and an idea for a quick card making craft was born.  

I trimmed the 12x12 pages into 4"x 5 1/4" rectangles.  Then I adhered the painted rectangles with double stick 3-D foam to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" cards.  To finish the look, I stamped "thanks so much" in black ink.  To give added dimension, I also stamped "thanks so much" to a coordinating colored cardstock and punched it out.  I adhered the punched out phrase with more 3-D foam, and stood back to admire the finished product.  In a short time, I had 12 handmade cards- each one unique.  

When it was time to actually write out the thank you's, I interviewed my son about his gifts and wrote his own words in each card.  Some of his descriptions were hilarious! (Lil sis is too small for much commentary yet.)  I enjoyed getting feedback from the recipients of the hand painted cards.  My sister was inspired by our little project and sent us a thank you card with my niece's handprint on it.  I'm definitely keeping that card!