DIY Mother's Day Gifts

“Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.” Deuteronomy 16:17 NIV

By: Gretchen Speer

Let me preface what I am about to tell you with a fact. I am not a hoarder. I don’t keep every thing that my kids make. With that said, I have kept almost every single finger painting they have ever done. When I first started storing it I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I knew that I was going to somehow repurpose it. My kids have been blessed with a very creative preschool teacher. She encorporates all kinds of fun things into their painting time, so their paintings are all kinds of wonderful. It’s just too pretty to throw away! For a few years now I have been using it for different things here and there. Today I’m going to share three ways I have used their artwork for gifts. With Mother’s Day just around the corner I thought you might be needing some DIY gift ideas:).

1) Use it to make magnents. I call this “functional art.” It’s pretty, the kids still see their work on display, and it serves a functional purpose. I have these all over my fridge, and also on the garage door. Here’s what you need:

Some of your kids artwork, clear garden rocks(I get these at hobby lobby in the wedding section.), magnents(I like the round ones best. They are in the craft section at wal-mart), modge podge, small paint brush, and a hot glue gun.

Step 1: Brush modge podge on the back of a garden rock

Step 2: Put glue side down on the art work and press. Let it dry(this will take about an hour).

Step 3 and 4: Once the glue is dry cut around the bottom of the garden rock. Then, hot glue the magnent on the back. Once the glue is dry it’s ready to go on the fridge!

Here is the finished product on our fridge.

Note: If you don’t have any artwork laying around, scrapbook paper works great for this too.

2) Use it to make a Necklace. The first few steps for this project are the same as the magnents. Instead of gluing magnents on the back you glue jewelry hardware on the back.(You can get these at Hobby Lobby in the jewelry section) You can make beaded necklaces to go with these or you can buy a chain. I got the one I wear at Wal-Mart for less than $10.00.

To make it more personal you can write names or letters on it.

3) Use it to make Cards. I use stencils to cut shapes out of the artwork. Then I take a small strip of card stock paper and glue two magnents on it so that they match up when you fold the paper.(See picture) Easy as pie!