George is turning 1… tomorrow!

Henry and I got creative by making some of our own wrapping paper for George’s present.
A simple art technique with tissue paper and water, that I learned about from The Little Red Hen.

We then arranged them on a long piece of butcher [or art] paper.
It was an array of colors! All very bright.

Once Henry was satisfied with the arrangement, he got right into squirting water all over it.
Strengthening little fingers the entire time.

After we had wet down the tissue paper, we noticed it needed more color, so we added more tissue paper as we went along.
Wetting it down entirely with water.

Then we had to have patience.
We let it dry overnight.
And then removed all the dried tissue paper.

We had success!
[No worries about waste, the tissue paper didn't go in the garbage. It'll be reused more than once, I'm sure, stay tuned.]
I was wary of the tissue paper bleeding, wondering if it really would or not.
Some colors bled more than others, while some didn’t at all.
But we did have pretty results.

I wrapped up George’s present with our DIY wrapping paper that we created.
Henry decorated the wrapping paper additionally with markers and stickers.

Henry was proud of his work and showed George his piece of artwork.
… That will inevitably be ripped off probably into shreds tomorrow.

Where has this year gone?
I can’t believe George is turning 1!
![]() | |
Henry is 3 years. George is 11 months. | |
| Head on over & check out our sponsors: |


















I'm a baker's wife and a stay at home mom. Hands on : as we grow is all about the activities that I do at home with the kids [Henry, 4, and George, 1 1/2]. We're full of energy and excitement and we sneak in learning opportunities wherever we can. But most importantly, we like to have fun with all of it. [Read
10 comments… read them below or add one
ooh love it
What a lovely diy wrapping paper! I love the great idea of getting the prints using tissue paper and water!
Lovely idea! And fun too
What a lovely idea, and so pretty too!
Beautiful Wrapping paper! We need to revisit this idea of bleeding tissue paper again! Thanks for the reminder! Happy early birthday to George! I'm sure you'll have an amazing post about his B-day party! Looking forward to it!
Another fantastic idea…. why didn't I know about these activities when my boys were little?
Its great you got pictures. It will be memories for George later on. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Another great project! This is actually something I like to do for family Christmas gifts (slightly more mature!)— just adds to the holiday decor!
Awww, how sweet are they? Time sure flies, doesn't it?
I love how creative your boys are and all the fun stuff you do with them. They will have so many wonderful memories.
That is really cute!!! I like that idea
Might have to try it during Christmas.
1 trackback