Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

go ask your father mug-target

Mother’s Day is coming up, May 9. We know how much work, worry and love goes into raising our own children, so we appreciate all the amazing mothers out there. We learned from the best; our mom was wonder woman. We owe our mother so many thanks, especially for giving us the greatest gift of all, unconditional love! Take the time to call your mom, stop by, send flowers or buy her something special.

We’ve rounded up some fabulous ideas below that you still have time to order!

Happy Mother’s Day!

mothers day gifts

  1. Bloody Mary Pitcher with the BEST bloody mix everThe Real Dill (If you live in Colorado, you can get this at grocery stores and liquor stores): We LOVE, LOVE this Bloody Mary mix. It’s the best. And, this pitcher is the perfect match for it.
  2. Raise them kind sweatshirt: This is so cute, but also a good reminder about the importance of raising kind kids. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the competitive things such as grades, sports, making sure our kids have the best of the best, but it’s important to remember to teach them to be kind.
  3. A good book, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah: We love Kristin Hannah books. This is on our reading list. We haven’t read it yet, but we hear it’s good.
  4. Cuisinart Electric Kettle: We use our electric kettle everyday, at least 3x a day. This is a MUST for every home, and every mother or woman who makes coffee or tea. Gift this kettle with a bag of coffee, or your moms favorite tea.
  5. Vuori joggers: Gift mom with the best joggers ever!! We love these, and recommend them to everyone.
  6. Miroco Frother: Yay to homemade frothy espresso drinks at home! This is a fun kitchen gadget that froths happiness in a cup every morning.
  7. PJ Salvage pajamas: Give mom the gift of really comfy pajamas. She will look forward to bed, and feel like the queen she is in these pajamas. PJ Salvage is one of our favorite pajamas brand.
  8. Yeti wine rambler: Give mom a to-go cup for her wine. It’s dishwasher friendly (YAY), and will keep her wine chilled as she sips!
  9. Oak and Luna Name Chain Link Necklace: Chain necklaces are a favorite for us these days, so how great is this chain necklace that you can customize with names!? We would be thrilled to open this on Mother’s Day.
  10. Custom Name Bead Bracelet: We have similar bead bracelets, and we wear them everyday. It’s a great affordable gift for moms and grandmothers.
  11. Magnolia Table Cookbook or Half Baked Harvest Cookbook: We love the recipes from these two women. Some are simple, and some push us outside our kitchen comfort zone, but they are all so yummy.

 

* This post affiliate links. Thanks for supporting our blog.

Celebrate Mom This Mother’s Day With A Sweet DIY Paper Cake

diy-paper-cakes-boy-mom-paper-flowers-rainbow-cake

Being a mom is one of the hardest, and most rewarding jobs in the world. Between the three of us, we have 8 children, ranging from 9-years-old to 2-years-old. Nothing could have prepared us for the ups and downs of motherhood (and all the priceless memories in between), but one thing’s for sure – we had the best mom growing up. She was the greatest example for us to learn what it means to be a mother, and how impactful a mother’s love can be. Our mom, without a doubt, takes the cake as the best mom (and now Nani to 8 grandkids) ever!

This year, we’re treating our mom to a sweet slice of cake, a beautiful DIY layered cake. This cake won’t cause any cavities
though, because it’s inedible. It’s made of paper, and decorated with the best, most colorful paper, ASTROBRIGHTS®  Papers.

We like to do most everything as a family, so we didn’t just stop at just one cake. Our mom gets the grand, three-layer cake, and we made three additional “baby cakes” to celebrate our own motherhood. Just like our personalities, they are all vibrant, but different and one-of-a-kind. All the how-to details for the 3-tier cake is available at Astrobrights.com. It’s worth checking out!

We hope you COLORIZE your Mother’s Day as you celebrate your own Mom, you, or any special Mother’s in your life, this year.

boy-mom-black-and-white-paper-cake-mama-bear-rainbow-cake

Materials:

  • Astrobrights Papers, see colors below
  • Scissors
  • Paper mache boxes (found here or here)
  • Glue dots, mini and regular
  • Glue stick
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Hot glue gun and hot glue

Directions:

Step 1: Determine the colors of the cakes.  For the three-tier cake, we used Rocket Red™, Gamma Green™, Solar White (found in the Spectrum Pack) and Terra Green™ cardstock. You can use the text weight instead of the cardstock weight, but we found that the cardstock weight was more durable when opening and closing the box. For the middle layer, we printed a free watercolor printable on the Solar White paper. To get the size you need, re-size as needed in Microsoft Word.

For the black and white baby cake, we used Eclipse Black™ and Solar White. For the confetti and rainbow baby cake, we used Plasma Pink™, Pulsar Pink™, Solar Yellow™, Cosmic Orange™, Blast-Off Blue™, Lunar Blue™Stardust™ White, Terrestrial Teal™, and Terra Green™. For the mama bear cake, we used Fireball Fuchsia™ for the melted frosting on top, and we painted Stardust™ White with gold leaf paper for the base of the cake. Follow directions on the gold leaf packaging to add this fun touch of glam to any paper.

watercolor-flowers-paper

gold-leaf-paper

Step 2: Measure the size of the box, as well as the lid.

mache-boxes

mache-box-ruler

Step 3: Cut the paper according to box measurements. Important note: add 1-2 cm. to the lid width measurements, because you will want it a bit higher than the actual lid to cover the edges of the lid.

lid-scalloped-white-edge

Step 4: Add glue dots to the edges and corners of the paper, and begin to wrap the box with paper. It’s best to leave the lid trim for last, so you can make sure the entire rim of the box is covered.

glue-dots-paper-crafts

gold-on-brown-paper-mache-box

pink-melted-frosting-paper

brown-paper-mache-box-with-pink-paper-around-it

pink-lid-glue-dots

paper-cake-pink-

Step 5: Cut any embellishments, or designs you choose to add. Our cakes are pretty and somewhat simple, which best suits us. The embellishments worth noting are the DIY paper flowers, the Boy Mom topper (and the classic white “pleats” on the cake), the mama bear and rainbow.

To make the flowers, first print flower petals from a template you can find online. Trace onto Rocket Red paper, and then cut. We used a Poppy flower template through our Silhouette Cameo software. But, most petals you find online will work. Next, cut a small triangle on the bottom, center of the petal. This is where you need your hot glue gun. Press hot glue on one side, and gently place the bottom side of the other piece of the petal on top. Continue to do this until you have four petals. Now, just glue each petal on top of each other. Once you have the petals, begin to create the center. We free-handed one small circle in Terra Green, one mini circle in Gamma Green and then leaves in both greens. For extra texture, cut slits in the larger Terra Green circle. Glue that textured circle in the middle of the flower, and then glue the mini Gamma Green circle in the center. Finally, glue the leaves on the bottom of the flower. You can place these all over the cake, or use a couple – it’s up to you!

coral-paper-flower-petals

paper-flower-petal-and-hot-glue-gun

coral-paper-flower-petal

gamma-green-paper-circles-leaves

paper-flowers-and-green-leaves

paper-flowers-coral-green-craft-paper-cake-details

paper-flowers

To make the bear, trace and cut the image of a bear onto card stock paper. For the words, you can use an electronic cutting machine to cut the words Mama Bear inside the bear. If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can use an X-acto knife to cut the words, or use a Sharpie to write them.

mama-bear-paper-cake-topper-pink-

To create the rainbow, free hand one small arch (the last layer of the rainbow) with a pencil on the bottom of Astrobrights cardstock paper, and then cut five additional arches, each other larger in size than the one before it. Glue each layer on top of each other, beginning with the largest. Next, free hand cut clouds, and glue them to the end of each rainbow.

confetti-diy-paper-cake

rainbow-paper-craft-project-diy-paper-cake-topper

rainbow-made-from-pink-orange-green-and-blue-paper-diy-paper-cake-topper

confetti-diy-paper-cake-with-rainbow-topper

To stand the bear and the rainbow on the cake, use small wooden toothpicks (with square ends, not pointed) to create mini DIY easels. Dab hot glue on the ends of the wooden toothpicks to keep them in place on top of the cake. You will need 2 toothpicks per “cake topper.”

Finally, to make the black and white cake, cut small pieces of Solar White paper (2 inches wide by the length of the mache box), and glue one end of them on the box one by one (sliding each one under the one before it) until the entire box is covered. Because we only glued one end of the white paper on the cake, it left the other end open, which created a  beautiful pleat effect. As for the Boy Mom words, we used an electronic cutting machine to cut the words (you could easily cut the letters with stencils, or use sticker letters) and glued the back of the letters to two black and white straws. We punctured two small holes in the top of the mache box to stick the straws inside. Voila!

black-white-pleat-box-memories-box-diy-paper-cake

black-paper-boy-mom-black-white-striped-straws

boy-mom-black-white-cake

diy-paper-cakes-boy-mom-paper-flowers-rainbow-cake

diy-colorful-paper-cakes-mothers-day-gift-wrap-mama-bear-rainbow-cake-topper

three-tier-paper-cake-on-a-cake-stand

Step 6: Fill with gifts, and give to Mom (or yourself).

box-filled-with-gifts

kids-kissing-mom

family-with-diy-paper-cakes

Our family of cakes will make for one sweet Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all you amazing, hard-working moms out there!

This post is in partnership with Astrobrights. We were crafting with and coloring on Astrobrights paper long before this post. It’s always been a fave product of ours. Thank you for supporting the brands that support j. sorelle. Astrobrights was one of the first, so we are very grateful. 

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means j. sorelle receives a small commission from the sale of certain items; however, the price is the same for you, whether it’s an affiliate link or not. 

DIY Sleep In Pillow Case

sleep-in-pillow-white-bedding-eyelashes-black-and-white
Let’s get real – sleep went out the window when we became moms, and we’re not convinced it ever comes back. Our children were not born good sleepers, they don’t know the meaning of sleeping in {no matter how late we keep them up}, and even when they are teenagers and we won’t be able to wake them up, we will be up late waiting for them to come in {and lose sleep over our worries about where they may be or what they may be doing}.

Just one day a year, it would be so lovely to sleep in. Not wake up at 7 a.m., then go back to bed for another hour. Like, really sleep in where we lose track of time. Remember those days?

Don’t get us wrong, we love motherhood, and feel incredibly grateful for every day on this earth we get to wake up to our beautiful children. It’s a gift, a priceless treasure. But, just one day of extra zzz’s would be so amazing.

Mother’s Day seems fitting for such an occasion. We made a pillowcase so everyone will know what we have in mind when we lay our pretty little heads down on Mother’s Day Eve.

When our DIY Sleep In pillowcase is on the bed, don’t even think about waking us up, ok?! Even if our family misses the memo, at least we can dream about sleeping in. We were inspired to create the pillowcase after this mirror at West Elm caught our eye. We love it, just like we love everything in West Elm stores.

sleep-in-pillow-case-eye-lashes

If you’re looking for a cheap, fun and last-minute gift this Mother’s Day, this is it. Anyone can do it with just a few supplies.

Materials:

Directions:

Pencil in your design, or trace a design. We styled our pillowcase just like the West Elm mirror.

white-pencil-sleep

Trace your pencil marks with the Stained fabric marker, and then color in.

black-and-white-sleep-in

sleep-in-black-sharpie

 

Insert a pillow in the pillowcase. Set it on your bed and sleep in.

white-bed-sleep-in-pillow-eye-lashes

 

Sweet dreams to all you amazing mother’s out there!

DIY Air Plant Gift

diy-mothers-day-gift-air-plant-planter-apple-gold-red

We know that sometimes the person we love, depend on and count on the most, is often the one we tell the least. This Mother’s Day, take the time to tell mom thanks and you love her. And, if you cannot celebrate with your mom this Mother’s Day, take the time to honor her life if she is no longer with you, or reach out to the person{s} who is a ‘mother’ figure in your own life.

We know trendy air plants are not totally our mom’s style, but this DIY planter is too cute not to make for her. Plus, she really is the apple of our eyes. We would not be the women and mother’s we are today without her.

This air plant is planted {in this case, when we say planted we mean ‘set inside’ because there is no soil, no mess and no intense tools needed} inside a fake apple. Seriously, these air plants are the plants for us. One month since we made the green purchase…and it’s still alive. We call that a success.

More details on how to make the DIY Mother’s Day gift, which BTW would be an awesome DIY gift for a friend, teacher, co-worker or family member, can be found here.

photo via Meredith Moran Photography

Mother’s Day DIY Party Hats

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos

Mom. Chef. Wife. Friend. Housekeeper. Chauffeur. Therapist. Teacher. Coach. Hair Stylist. Nani.

Moms wear many hats. We know our mom did. She amazes us everyday with her energy and love. Sometimes she can wear 5 hats at the same time!

Celebrate all the many hats mom wears this Mother’s Day with DIY photo party hats. The kids will love to help create them and everyone can wear them to celebrate mom.

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos

Materials Needed:

  • Astrobrights Papers
  • Photos
  • Decorating accessories – sequins, paper, yarn, ribbon, flowers, tissue paper, pom poms, etc
  • Hot glue gun
  • Ribbon
  • String
  • X-acto Knife

Directions:

  • Download a hat pdf online. Print, then cut out the template.
  • Print images of your mom with family and friends on heavy paper. We found it best to re-size the images in Microsoft Word to fit an 81/2 x 11 size paper. Some of the photos worked best with a small border around the edge – it just depends on the photo. Make sure images are horizontal.
  • Trace the hat template onto the image and make sure everyone’s beautiful faces fit in the template {if not, adjust accordingly}, then cut the tracing and use your X-acto knife where the slits are.
  • Gently bend the hat to place the tab into the slot. If it doesn’t fit easily, you can always use a hot glue gun to keep the paper hat in place at the tab seam.
  • On each side of the hat, use a small hole punch or use an X-acto knife to make a X cut mark for the ribbon. You can always glue the hat onto headbands, too.
  • Push the ribbon through the X and tie a knot on the inside of the hat.
  • Embellish, embellish, embellish. We used all the sparkly and pretty things we had around the house. Use the hot glue gun to glue all the embellishments to the hat.
  • For all the ‘hat labels’ we painted watercolor circles with watercolor paint, and glued them to the hats.

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos

diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos Mom. Chef. Wife. Friend. Housekeeper. Chauffeur. Therapist. Teacher. Coach. Hair Stylist. Nani.  Moms wear many hats. We know our mom did. She amazes us everyday with her energy and love.  Celebrate all the many hats mom wears this Mother's Day with DIY photo party hats. The kids will love to help create them and everyone can wear them.  diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos  diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos  Materials Needed:  Astrobrights Papers Photos Decorating accessories - sequins, paper, yarn, ribbon, flowers, tissue paper, pom poms, etc Hot glue gun Ribbon String X-acto Knife Directions  Download a hat pdf online. Print, then cut out the template. Print images of your mom with family and friends on heavy paper. We found it best to re-size the images in Microsoft Word to fit an 81/2 x 11 size paper. Some of the photos worked best with a small border around the edge - it just depends on the photo. Make sure images are horizontal. Trace the hat template onto the image and make sure everyone's beautiful faces fit in the template {if not, adjust accordingly}, then cut the tracing and use your X-acto knife where the slits are. Gently bend the hat to place the tab into the slot. If it doesn't fit easily, you can always use a hot glue gun to keep the paper hat in place at the tab seam. On each side of the hat, use a small hole punch or use an X-acto knife to make a X cut mark for the ribbon. You can always glue the hat onto headbands, too. Push the ribbon through the X and tie a knot on the inside of the hat. Embellish, embellish, embellish. We used all the sparkly and pretty things we had around the house. Use the hot glue gun to glue all the embellishments to the hat. For all the 'hat labels' we painted watercolor circles with watercolor paint. diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos  diy-party-hats-paper-mom-mothers-day-heart-photos  {images via j. sorelle}

See more creative last-minute Mother’s Day ideas at Cre8tive Compass.

{images via j. sorelle}