This is a guest post by Friends of Pfister community contributor, Dusty Bastian of AsMomSeesIt.com.
With sites like Pinterest growing increasingly more popular, the bar for homemade gifts have been raised. Gone are the days of macaroni portraits and poorly made clay ashtrays for holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Whether you’re creating a gift for your mother-in-law, or helping a toddler create memorable gift for her own mother, we found some fun ideas from bloggers across the web.
Bejeweled Mommas
Personalized washer necklaces have been popular for several years; I have a couple myself and I’ve given more than my share. They’re such a great idea for moms because it allows them to carry their little ones with them wherever they go. They can have something as simple as initials, or as unique as footprints with their child’s names. The personalization is limited only by creativity.
We found two great examples of homemade washer necklaces from Canadian blog Mommy Moment , who featuressimple yet colorful take on the washer necklace with her pendant style necklace (click here for instructions!), and The Frugal Greenish Mama who posted a no mess, no tools needed process is easy enough to use as gifts throughout the year (click here for instructions!).
Let’s Get Beautiful
Now that spring is here, it’s time to prep our skin for more revealing (yikes!) spring and summer clothing. I was given an amazing sugar scrub for Christmas, but once it ran out, I find that the quality ones are not cheap. Our friends atConfessions of an Overworked Mom has a great recipe for homemade Sugar Scrub (click here for instructions!) that looks divine!
Not only will mom enjoy this skin soothing and beautifying gift, but you can gift it in a myriad of beautiful handmade or repurposed containers that the kids can decorate themselves. Best of all, the ingredients in this heavenly sugar scrub are ones that are found in most of our cupboards already.
Handprint Keepsakes
For younger kids, we love this handprint flower that Nifty Mom posted! It’s simple, requires very little supplies, and we’re sure that kids of any age will enjoy making them. We also love that mom or grandma can save them so that as the kids grow, they can compare the size of their handprints over the years. Click here to get the instructions!
In keeping with fun handprint keepsakes, our friends at Our Kids Mom created these cute framed handprints (click for instructions) that are beautiful hanging on any wall, are a project that creates less mess, and allow for fun customization by the kids when they add fancy paper, jewels, different colored paper and other embellishments.
As the kids get older, you might also remove the handprints from previous year’s frames and combine each child’s collection into one frame, layered as shown, with the year of creation on each sized hand. This keepsake may end up on your child’s wall someday when they have their own place, as well!
Flowers That Last Forever
Flowers are great any day, especially for Mother’s Day, but they never last long. Formula Mom posted the perfect solution – a bouquet of flowers that can last forever (click here for instructions!). This hand flower bouquet can easily be made by older kids – and a forgetful significant other – in almost no time and can be customized with mom’s favorite colors.
For a little sweeter take on the forever-loved bouquet, we love this delicious idea from The Frugal Greenish Mom. This Lollipop Bouquet can also add a pop of color and can be customized with mom’s favorite colors and flavors. Just try to keep the kids out of this craft! Click here for instructions!
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
With the use of digital cameras, many of our pictures go unprinted, and instead are often uploaded to Facebook or a photo sharing site. We forget how much moms (and especially grandmas) still love the look of printed photos. One Momma Saving Money posted this craft which uses your favorite printed photos to create a Modge Podge flower pot (click here for instructions!). Just add flowers and you’re sure to put a smile on mom’s face.
This project is also ideal for those of use that like to change out the photos in our photo frames with updated photos. Instead of throwing out the old photos that we still love, we can upcycle them to use on this great little flower pot.
A Wreath For Every Season
Our friends at Just Short of Crazy posted this fun wreath project that’s just short of perfect! This scrap fabric wreath is ideal for those that are frequent crafters or sewing fanatics because it’s a great use of scrap fabric and ribbon. Click here for instructions!
You can carry this idea onto other seasons and holidays, as well! For more ideas on homemade Mother’s Day gifts, you can check out our Pinterest board for pictures and links to these and other project ideas.
