A close friend of our family was recently diagnosed with cancer. When he was scheduled to have surgery, I wanted to tell him that we were thinking of him but didn’t want to send the standard card and flowers. I wanted to be thoughtful and personal. So with a little help from each family member, we created a “Get Well” card that would deliver a daily dose of love and cheerfulness to an otherwise dreary hospital room.
We started with several sets of handprints. Each member of our family and my sister’s family made a set, totaling 16 handprints.
I arranged the handprints in a row, mixing colors and sizes. Flipping some up and some upside down added more interest. Each handprint was joined together by punching holes and securing them with decorative brads.
To make our ‘Get Well’ message, I used MS Word to design and print the letters. I then cut them out with scissors, securing them with glue dots.
We delivered the banner and hung it up on the window using tape. One of the highlights for my kids was being able to see it (up on the 5th floor) all the way from the hospital parking lot!
Thinking of ideas to make your own? There are so many fun ways to personalize your banner:
- Use printed scrapbook paper or fabric for the handprints.
- Join the handprints together using brads or ribbon. We used brads because it made the banner easy to fold up for mailing.
- Use a craft cutter for the letters or pre-printed options such as scrapbooking letters or chipboard. You could also draw on the letters using paint, glitter or stamps.
- Have the kids decorate their own handprints with crayons and stickers.
- Write personal messages on the back of each hand.
Tiffany Larson
Tiffany is a wife to one wonderful husband and proud mama of two very busy children. They spend their free time in the outdoors on the snow, water, road or dirt. She is passionate about green living and dragging her family along the journey with her! Tiffany can be found writing at Mommy Goes Green.
