"hands-on" birthday presents for grandma(s)

Recently I scored these two beauties for free at an estate sale:

I know, you're probably thinking "gee, I'm glad they were free."

But I actually had plans in mind for them, that did not include framing and displaying portraits of people whom I have never seen.

After covering them both in spray paint, they became blank canvases for a project we did with the girls for their grandmas, both of whom have birthdays in the fall. I've seen variations on this idea here there and everywhere. It was a lot of fun to watch our girls do their own take on it.

We put the girls in some old t-shirts and let them go wild with the paints.

Then we painted their hands

And helped them to further personalize their works of art.

We documented the whole process and put the pictures

(along with some other shots of the girls)

in a little album to send along with each canvas.

I figure they can hang them in the garage or the basement if they don't fit in with their living room decor :). The main thing is that the girls felt connected to their grandmas while they were making their gifts, and were excited about giving them. They don't get to see their grandparents very often, so it helps to have these "hands-on" connection-building experiences.