Mother's Day Craft Projects

Written by Amanda Liljedahl

With Mother's Day quickly approaching, my kiddos and I have been busy coming up with gift ideas for the grandmothers in our lives to let them know how much they are loved and appreciated.  What grandmother doesn't love homemade gifts that come from the heart? We first decided to decorate flower pots and fill them with each's favorite flowers. They will be able to think of their grandchildren as the plant blooms all season long. We started with terra cotta planters purchased at AC Moore (3 for $1). The kids then painted the pots and saucers white using acrylic paint. When the paint dried we then had some fun decorating with hand and thumb prints to capture the little hands at this particular stage. I painted my five children’s hands with their favorite color then helped them each gently apply a hand print onto the outside of the pot. We then decorated another pot with the kids' thumbprints which we arranged in a circle to look like flower petals (just be sure to initial whose fingerprint is whose in pen under each print).  Sticking with the floral theme, we also came up with 3D picture arrangements, blooming on paper.

I cut out photographs of the children’s faces to be the center of each flower, then the kids cut and glued on petals, twisted green paper into stems and glued on a little paper cup, cut in half, to serve as the pot.  For a finishing touch we glued a ribbon to the top of this flower pot and used a marker tip to add some polka dots.  On the back of the picture the kids came up with the caption, "Nanny, thanks for helping us bloom."

 My children have always enjoyed tea parties with my mom so I thought something to show how much they treasure those special moments with her would also be welcome. The kids water colored on plain white paper and once those dried, I cut them into the shape of a tea cup and attached a favorite tea bag. On the saucer we wrote, "For a grandmother who’s sweet as can be, we hope you enjoy a cup of tea." And for a final gift we thought, what girl doesn't love to receive jewelry?

The grandmothers in our family are no different so we decided to make some beautiful bracelets for them.

We bought some colorful glass beads, wire, and clasps at the craft store, then the kids sorted, arranged, and thread the beads onto the wire. I attached the clasps and viola- beautiful new bracelets to rival any Pandora collection! I think the mothers in our life will be touched with our creative homemade gifts and hope you are able to try these ideas for the important moms in your life this Mother's Day!

About Amanda:

Amanda Liljedahl lives in Needham with her husband and five children (two boys, a set of identical twin girls and their newest addition, another girl). She chronicles her days which include arts & crafts projects, great recipes for the family and driving her kids from hockey practice and ballet to what's happening in her life as a mom, wife and friend on her blog: www.thelittlelilypad.blogspot.com. Amanda will be sharing monthly arts & crafts ideas on Parent Talk Matters Blog so check back each month for new creative projects.