I thoroughly enjoy handmade gifts, especially personalized gifts or hand print gifts.  For over a year I had wanted to make a hand print towel.  First, I didn't have the supplies.  By the time I had the supplies, I was expecting another baby and thought it best to wait to make the hand print towel.

This Christmas I finally made a hand print (and footprint) towel!  Overall, I like it.

You might notice that there are a total of four prints on the kitchen towel, but I only have three children.  I had made a towel each for my mother-in-law and for my husband's grandmother.  There is only one more grandchild, so I wanted to include him.  (Additional towels for my mom, stepmother, and myself will be made in the future.)

Interested in making your own hand print towel?  It is pretty simple.

Supplies Needed:

washed white cotton kitchen towel (I found these at KMart.  They are not as easy to find as you might think.)

fabric paint (Linked to a six-color sample set.  It was perfect for this with plenty left over for other projects.) 

paint brush (sponge-type worked well)

toothpick or fine paint brush (I used a toothpick; it worked well.) 

plastic lid or paint palette of some sort

water

newspaper or cardboard to place under the towel

Create:

~ Gather your supplies, then call the children over.  Decide in advance where you will want hand prints placed.  I chose the four corners.  

~ Paint child's hand with fabric paint.  Have the child spread fingers just a little before pressing firmly to the towel.

~ If you desire a dark hand print, you will need to paint a second layer of paint using the brush.  I opted to do this, though I am very curious how one layer of paint would hold up to laundering.

~ Once the hand print is dry, use a contrasting color of fabric paint to paint the initials or name of each child on the hand print.  You may want to practice on a paper towel first.  This was very tedious work!  I only had patience for initials.

~ Repeat as desired for each hand print.

Some additional tips and considerations:

~ If you don't admire wrinkles in your towels, you may want to iron in advance, especially if you plan to take photos for your blog.  Ahem.

~ If you have young children, you may want to work with one child at a time.  

~ Prepare young children that painting on their hand will tickle.  Then "paint" their hand with water and press it to a paper towel to practice printing.  

~ Babies' hands often do not cooperate.  Because this is a one-shot-deal, I chose to use my baby's footprint instead of hand print.

~ If you only want to have one layer of paint for each hand print, you may enjoy a layered look with different colors overlapping.  

~ Baby wipes work very well for cleaning between baby's toes or young a child's fingers.