This week I thought I would share a few handmade items that would make great Mother's Day gifts. What mother doesn't like a little garden flair? In fact, this first project was a gift to myself. I couldn't possibly love the book And Then It's Spring
Inspired by a particularly adorable page, I made this sign for the garden.
It was very easy to create. I simply applied letter stickers
Jason attached it to a cool stick I found in the backyard, and voila, super cute garden sign. (Too bad cats can't read ... I would have changed the word stomp to "crap" if I thought it would do any good.)
With this technique you could create all sorts of personal garden signs and older children could certainly pull it off with very little assistance.
Another cool garden project is a birdhouse.
Jude painted this daddy-built birdhouse for his great-grandmother's birthday. (You could, of course, start with an unfinished birdhouse from the craft store.) My kind of gift: simple, affordable, useful, and artsy.
Here's my tips for successful toddler-painted gifts:
1. Choose three coordinating colors, this avoids one big brown mess. (In this case blue, white, and gray which matches my grandma's house)
2. Try to stay out of it. Beyond limiting the color palette, you want it to be your child's creation. It will end up a lot cooler if you haven't controlled it.
3. Stop while you're ahead. Okay, so stay out of it until ... it looks super cool and your toddler appears to be shifting from thoughtful strokes to wild coverage; at this point, offer some paper and whisk away their beautiful creation before it loses that artsy, abstract quality.
What do you think, would you like to give or receive something for the garden this Mother's Day? Stay tuned for more ideas!
