“Jesus is the Greatest Gift” wall art.
I’ve been getting a ton of compliments on this project and the idea of it, so I decided to post a blog about it in hopes others will recreate it with their families.
First, let me give you some backstory. I love crafting. I have six kids. I used to go all out making ornaments for the tree each year with the kids. We had handprint everything. With six kids that’s a lot of homemade ornaments. The tree looked more like a craft fair explosion than anything else. It was not too pleasing to the eye, but it was full of memories. But then I also had a conviction that the tree was not a representation of true meaning of Christmas, but more of a shrine to my family. While I get that family is a gift from God, I knew that conviction meant I needed to make a change. So, I did let go of the tradition of making ornaments and changed the theme of the tree.
BUT we still want to craft… all of us. So, it was time to get creative. I had this idea to have the kids paint canvases to look like presents and in the middle we would write, “Jesus is the Greatest Gift!”
I went to the Dollar Tree and bought six 8×10 canvases and a flat 11×14 canvas. I also bought some ribbons and bows. (We already had a bunch of acrylic paint from a previous project.) In the middle of the 11×14 canvas I wrote in permanent marker, “Jesus is the Greatest Gift!”
Then recognizing I wanted these pieces to go together (and given the chance my kids may go crazy with the paint), I drew random black lines on their canvases to look like striped wrapping paper. I also only gave them a select few colors to work with, so that it would go well.
Each kid painted their own canvas… except my 3-year-old (I was not that brave).
Once they dried, I hot glued ribbon on the top of the canvas with dots of hot glue on the ends and flipped over on the back to hold with more hot glue dots.
Then I took the bow, removed the paper for the sticky, added hot glue, and stuck it on the canvas.
Realizing my center piece didn’t quite match, I painted it a little and tried to add the colors the kids used.
Then I hung them on the wall.
We really enjoy it!
So in case you didn’t want to read all that and just wanted how to do the project:
Supplies
-canvases 8×10 for the gift boxes, 11×14 for the center piece
-paint
-permanent marker
-ruler or straight edge
-ribbon
-bows
-scissors
-Hot-glue gun/glue or glue dots
Steps 1: Prepare the giftbox canvases. Draw lines for stripes (if that is your desired look) with your straight edge and marker. You could also choose another pattern of your choice.
Step 2: Have your kids paint the canvases. (Make sure to limit/select colors if you are looking for a compressive piece.)
Step 3: Let it dry.
Step 4: Add the ribbon. Glue a spot in the middle top and middle bottom and place a ribbon. Make sure to leave extra ribbon on the sides to wrap around the back for extra hold. Glue a spot on the back too. Repeat with the horizontal piece of ribbon.
Step 5: Add the bow. Reinforce with hot glue.
Another Step: Have an adult or skilled older child decorate the center piece. First, write, “Jesus is the Greatest Gift” in permanent marker. Then decorate as desired. Add ribbon and bows, if desired, by hot gluing them in a similar manner.
Step 6: Hang up and enjoy! I used command strips to hang them up.