DIY Mother's Day Card

Today I'm excited to be participating in 100 Days of Tombow.  One hundred bloggers across America are creating projects with Tombow products to celebrate the company's centennial year.  But the best part is that for every blogger who participates, $100 will be donated to the Council for Arts Education.  You may know that art education is very important to me.  Often I volunteer my time to do art projects at my children's school.  In fact, just last week I scheduled an outing for a couple classes to visit a pottery studio.

Tombow sent me a few of their projects to make a craft for this event.  Today I will be working with the Tombow markers to make this Mother's Day Card. 

Supplies:
Tombow Markers - two coordinating colors
White Crayon
White Cardstock
Scissors
Ruler
Piece of plastic - I used a disposable plastic pie cover.  Any kind of plastic packaging should work. Check your recycle bin.

To make this card I'm using a wax resist technique.  With a white crayon I wrote out the words "Happy Mother's Day".  To get your letters straight and centered as best as possible here are few tips.

1.  Work in a well lit room so you can see the white crayon on the card.

2.  Place a ruler on the paper and use it as if it was a blue ruled line on your paper.  This will keep all your letters straight. 

3.  A good way to write well centered and spaced words on a card is to start with the middle letter.  For example, write the letter "P" for the word "happy" in the center of your paper.  Then write the letters on each side evenly spaced.

Once you have your images written out, you're going to cover the entire card with marker.  To give it a gradient look, use this method. 

1.  Write on your plastic with the darker color marker.

2.  Pick up the color with the lighter marker.  Just rub the marker brush on the ink and it will pick up the darker color.

As you color over the letters they will resist the crayon and show up.  The marker will also gradually lighten in color as you draw due to the technique you used above, giving it a gradient style.

Make your card into any shape you want.  You can also use this technique to draw images as well. 

 

Mother's Day Embroidery Brooch

If you've been following this blog, then these brooches might look familiar to you.  They were inspired by this post I wrote a while back. Only this time I decided to skip a step making them easy to whip up for a last minute Mother's Day Gift.  Instead of creating the embroidery myself, I salvaged pieces from worn out tea towels.  So really, all you're doing is sewing a tiny pillow.  Here's the how-to:

Supplies:
Tea towel already embroidered - look for these at the thrift store.  Since you'll be cutting it up, it doesn't matter if it's stained.  You should pay no more than a couple dollars for the piece.

Matching Embroidery Thread

Sewing Needle

Scissors

Pollyfill

Pin Back that you can sew on

1.  Cut out embroidery piece.  Place on another piece of solid fabric from your tea towel.  Pin together and cut out in the shape you choose.  Make sure to leave extra room for stitching.  You can always trim back the edges after.

2.  Using a back stitch, sew all around the image leaving about a one inch opening.

3.  Lightly stuff with pollyfill and continue to stitch all the way around the embroidered piece.  Knot and sew in loose threads.  Trim edges if necessary.  If you're concerned your fabric will fray, add the tiniest amount of glue to the edges.

4.  Sew on your pin back.  Test out the pin back to make sure it works well.  Usually these kind of pins come in packs of 50 and I've found there are always a couple duds in the pack.

Experiment with different shapes.  The heart in the back came from the corner of a hankie.  There was no one image to outline so I cut it into a heart shape.  I also used a running stitch for the heart.

  Get creative with your pins.  Use them to decorate bags, hats, sweaters, hair ties, or even presents. 

Mother's Day Card Roundup

Looking for a last minute card to give mom for Mother's Day? Here's a few cute cards you can download for free.

Flower Print by Mufn Inc
Martryoshka Card by Creative Mamma
Movie Night Card by Martha Stewart
Poster Card by Proffittable Life
Silhouette Card by Babalisme
Teacup card by Zakka Life

Kid Craft: Mother's Day Pendants

Move over macaroni necklace, there's a new piece of jewelry to make for Mother's Day. Not that I have anything against the macaroni necklace, I've made a few in my day. But if you're looking for a more updated mother's day kid craft, this is it. Much like the macaroni necklace, this pendant is also made out of humble supplies. The metal base is actually the end of a crescent roll container!

I recommend this craft for children 5 and up. It definitely requires adult supervision and depending on the age, you may need to do some of the steps. That said, try to make it the child's project as much as possible. Let them pick out the images and accents for the pendant. Don't forget to have fun!

Supplies:
Aleene's Paper Glaze - you could also use Diamond Glaze or Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
Metal lids from crescent roll containers - pictured above
Jewelry Bails - easy to find at the craft store
Decorative paper - scrapbook paper, magazine clippings, clip art
Embellishments - rhinestones, beads, buttons, etc. . .
Cardboard - from a cereal box or other packaging
E6000 Glue
Decoupage glue
Paint brush
Scissors
Place metal lid on cardboard. Trace onto cardboard. Cut out. Glue inside metal lid.

Create and glue a mini collage on top of cardboard. Cover with a light coat of decoupage. Let dry.

Once dry, add a light coat of paper glaze on top. Spread out with tip of container or a paint brush. Remove any bubbles by poking them with a pin. Let dry overnight.

If you add too much paper glaze it will dry cloudy and not clear (pictured above). This was one of my prototypes for this project.

Glue jewelry bail on back of pendant with E6000 glue. Let dry overnight. This step should be done by an adult.

Eiffel Tower image from The Graphics Fairy

There are a lot of possibilities with these pendants. Make magnets, pins, cards and whatever else you can think of with them. They're not just for Mother's Day.

Craft Project: Lavender Teabag Sachets

Here's a gift idea for Mother's Day, lavender teabag sachets. Steep your clothes in the sweet smell of lavender. Perfect to stuff in dresser drawers or linen cabinets.

I've been holding onto this idea for two years now. Why? I just never got a chance to test it out. You see, every time I come up with an idea, I record it in my journal. I draw a picture of the craft plus directions on how I think it would be made. Often I forget about the idea until I page through my journal again. It's kind of like Christmas for me, I open up one of my journals and discover a forgotten project.

Supplies:
Light weight fabric - cotton or linen
Scissors
Thread
Sewing needle or Sewing machine
Dried Lavender
Ribbon
purple embroidery thread (optional)

Click on image for a larger view

1. Cut out 2 rectangles of fabric (8 1/2" by 3"). Pin right sides together. Sew down each side with a 1/4" seam allowance refer to picture. Turn right side out.

2. Sew across the rectangle three inches from the bottom (refer to picture). Add about a tablespoon of lavender.

3. Sew across the rectangle three inches form the top (refer to picture).

4. Fold both sides upwards and fill with about a tablespoon of lavender in each side.

5. Fold top flaps down, roughly 1/4 inch.

6. Hold both sides together(refer to picture).

7. Pull the tea tag ribbon through the top center of the teabag ( refer to picture). Pin in place.

8. Sew across on dotted lines (refer to picture).

9. Turn right side out. Done!

Tea Tag Directions

Cut a piece of fabric 3" by 1 1'2". Fold in half. Sew down sides (refer to picture). Turn right side out. Place ribbon inside the square. Fold in raw edges. Sew closed.

Optional: embroider lavender image on the tag.

Other Mother's Day Ideas

Paper Craft: Teacup Card

Here's an easy card to make for just about any occasion. I'm planning on using it for Mother's Day. It would also make a nice tea party invitation. On the back of the teabag is the message. Simple directions below.

Supplies
White heavy card stock
Scissors
Exacto knife
Glue
String

Right click, copy and save to a program such as Word. Print out teacup template. It's designed to fit on standard letter size paper.

Cut out teacup and rectangle. Fold both in half so they line up as perfect as possible. Unfold.

Apply glue to teacup (refer to picture). Fold together. Let dry.

Cut out a piece of paper the same size as the tea bag. Tape the string to the paper. Cover up the string by taping the teabag to the paper. Tape string to the inside of the rectangle template and glue shut.

Write message on back. Hopefully your message will look nicer than the one above. Now just tuck the teabag/message into the teacup. Done.

Mother's Day Gifts: Teacup Votives

Here's a new approach on the teacup candle. Instead of using an adult size tea cup, use a teacup from a child's set. They're the perfect size for a votive candle. The tea cup above is 1 1/2" tall. I'm thinking it would be a nice gift for Mother's day wrapped up as a set. It would be even more special, if you could give a teacup from your childhood.

*Look for child teacups at yard sales and thrift stores.

Easy Mother's Day Card

Here's a quick and easy card you can make for Mother's Day. All you need to do is roll out a circle of paper clay ( sold at Michaels and Daiso). Push the child's hand in the clay. Let the hand print dry for a day. When dry, glue it to your choice of card stock. This would also look cute framed in a shadow box.

*Paper clay is very light so it won't way down the card at all. You can also paint paper clay.