BL Workshop

Use nature to make great Mother’s Day gifts

By Jodie Mangor
Illustrations by David Brooks
From the May 2008 Boys' Life magazine

Mother’s Day is May 11. Show your mom just how great she is by making her a gift inspired by Mother Nature herself! Topped off with a homemade card, it will be a present Mom will never forget.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

This promise tree can also become an instant jewelry hanger.

• Find a branch with plenty of twigs. You can paint it or leave it natural.
• Stand up the branch in a container and stabilize it with pebbles or clay.
• Cut shapes from paper and write special coupons for your mom.
• For surprise coupons, you can roll up squares of paper.
• Attach them to the branch with colorful bits of yarn. And no griping when she uses them!
  

COASTING

Make a set of coasters by placing leaves and flowers between two pieces of clear contact paper.

Trace a circle slightly larger than the base of a cup. Press together and cut out the circle (or other shape).

For an added touch, glue felt to the bottom of each coaster.

FLOWER POWER

Want flowers for Mom to last as long as possible? Turn them into a place mat.

• You’ll need two pieces of clear contact paper big enough for a table setting.
• With the backing pulled off, arrange petals, leaves and flattened flowers on the sticky side of one piece.
• Carefully lay the second sheet, sticky side down, over your design. (An extra pair of hands can help.) The colors of the flowers will fade, but their beauty won’t.
  

MOMS ROCK!

Turn a rock into a pendant your mother will love.

• Wrap a piece of yarn or embroidery floss around the rock every which way.
• Tie the ends together at one side, then make a double knot a little farther up to create a loop.
• Coat the rock and yarn with white liquid glue.
• Keep it on a piece of wax paper until the glue dries clear.
  

POETRY TO HER EARS

Make your mom a set of poetry pebbles to play with.

• Find at least 20 smooth pebbles similar in size.
• With a permanent marker, write a single word on each one.
• Choose words you think she would like, using a mix of nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and prepositions.
  

CATCH SOME RAYS …

… and Mom’s attention with a dazzling sun catcher that’s easy to make.

• Cover your work area with newspaper, then sandwich flowers and leaves between two pieces of wax paper.
• Tuck some glitter and colorful crayon shavings inside, too.
• With adult supervision, cover with a layer of newspaper, then run an iron set on low over the sun catcher to seal it.
• Punch a hole at the top and add a loop of yarn so it will be ready to hang.
  

DON’T SPILL THE BEANS!

Make a secret hiding place for Mom’s treasures.

• You’ll need a glass jar with a lid, a piece of cardboard, a cardboard tube and some dried beans.
• Cut the tube so it is slightly shorter than the jar, and glue it to a circular cardboard base.
• Stand the tube and base inside the jar. Pour dried beans all around it, right up to the top.

This hiding place is so good, you might want to make one for yourself.

NUTTY PICTURES

Here’s a photo case Mom will be nuts about.

• Ask an adult to split a walnut shell in half.
• Trim photos to fit on each rim and glue them into place.
• When the glue has dried, put the two walnut halves back together and glue a scrap of felt across them to make a hinge.
  

Read 4 comments about “Use nature to make great Mother’s Day gifts”

1. 1 - Scoutdad says:
   May 5th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

   Neat ideas! The boys will enjoy making these for mom. Thank you..

2. 2 - flag_football says:
   May 7th, 2008 at 8:16 am

   interesting……

3. 3 - toot says:
   May 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

   i love the ideas!!!!

4. 4 - EJ says:
   May 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am

   its awsome

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