Last Minute Mother's Day Gifts

I've been living in bookkeeping hell for the last while (it turns out our bookkeeper last year was horribly incompetent) and then found out this morning that the situation is worse than we thought.  In any case, my limited amount of free time to post fun things and to get ready for Avery's party is going to become even more limited (yikes!) but one of my sisters is coming to stay with us for a week (isn't that incredible?!) to watch the kids so that I can work on the bookkeeping thing... somehow I'll have to find time to get the rest done too although I know the postings will take a back seat to everything else, so my apologies in advance.

Since Mother's Day is only a day away I realized that I need make something for my Mom!  I tried a kid craft tonight based on a great idea that one of my friends came up with using kids' hands.  However, it's still in the beginning stages and I won't know if it worked until tomorrow.... which will be too late for you to try it too.  With that in mind, here are a couple ideas that I'll likely choose from if mine doesn't work out!

Fresh Flowers

Source:  stylehive.com

My mom loves flowers.  Rather than buying a bouquet and giving it to her straight from the store, I prefer to do a little rearranging and put it in a vase/container of my own.  It doesn't have to be a big bouquet, just a beautiful one.  (Ikea & Dollarama have pretty and inexpensive glass vases)

If you'd like a little more guidance - here's Martha Stewart's Flower Arranging 101 (keep pressing the 'read more' buttons as you're reading)

BUT if your mom would prefer to arrange her own flowers, here's a cute idea for putting together a flower arranging kit

Flower Arranging Kit
(source: marthastewart.com)

Teacup Candles

My mom also loves entertaining and antiques and what better way to combine both than with these lovely Teacup Candles.

marthastewart.com

As a heads up, the instructions seem like overkill to me.  I'm almost 100% certain that Michael's has candle wax and wicks that you can buy inexpensively (and I'd recommend Value Village, Goodwill or your little local antique shop for the teacups) and then follow the instructions on the candle wax box.

Fabric-Fused Recipe Binder

One of the projects I found on marthastewart.com inspired an idea  - I could create a recipe binder for my mom.  She's constantly cutting out recipes and stuffing them into the front of her cookbooks. 

The original project from marthastewart.com

If I can find a plain fabric covered photo album binder with the photo pages that you can slide pictures into, I can fuse a pretty pattern onto the front using fabric I have at home and create dividers (appetizers, entrees, dessert etc.) using card stock and a hole punch.

Photo Magnets and/or Tins

Which grandmother doesn't like pictures of their grandchildren?!  This is a great idea for making those pictures more practical.

marthastewart.com

I'm sure I've seen the magnet tins in Canadian Tire and for some reason I feel like I saw them in Dollarama as well...

Pantry Soap

Nope, not soap for the pantry but soap made from items in your pantry (lemon, ginger, oatmeal etc.).  And the shapes are made from plastic containers you have lying around!  I love the rustic look of these soaps and based on the ingredients, they should smell delicious.

marthastewart.com

Tub Teas

I'm not a bath person so I almost skipped this one, but the gift isn't for me and my mom loves to relax with a long soak in the tub.  Although they look like they might be complicated, the materials and instructions are surprisingly straightforward.

marthastewart.com

You can find Epsom salt at Shoppers Drug Mart and you might also find the sea salt as well in their grocery aisle.  I think health food stores often have dried lavender and other aromatic dried flowers/herbs. 

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

- Jacs