Do you remember the first crafted gift you made for Mother's Day? I think I was about 6. I painted and collaged the frame from a free stand-up insurance company calendar, then ripped the calendar out and replaced it with a "happy mother's day" note. We shall ignore that the paint was the inexpensive water color found in tin boxes, the colored paper from her new magazines, and that nothing totally obliterated the insurance company advertising. I think it was still wet when I gave it to her. I don't remember her being thrilled my artistic endeavor, but who recalls the past that clearly??
We Who Make love the doing. We love the thought of creating something special for those in our lives. And even as we grow, we still look to the making for Mother's Day.
Kathy Cano-Murillo, aka Crafty Chica, tells a sweet story of her mother as she explains why she made her custom games.
About, oh, say, 35 years ago at my parents' house, this is what you'd hear my mom scream out every Saturday night:
"Yahtzee!!!"
Back then, my mom loved playing all kinds of board games, Yahtzee, Aggravation and Bingo.
To this day, every time I walk by the game aisle in a store, I see Mom kissing the dice, saying "Come on, baby, give me a Yahtzee!" She'd wink at me, and then toss them on the kitchen table as if she were at a swanky Vegas casino.
Now that I'm an adult, I wish I had made my mom a personalized game. That would have made her triumphs all the more empowering. But, hey, it is never too late!
A Warhol-esque picture on Craftster, by Bewitched 2982, highlighted her photoshop skills to turn a great photograph into a pop memory for her mom.
A Mother/Daughter crafting night gave Kerri patience.. or something like that:
Last evening we had a Mother-Daughter Sparks meeting. Jennifer informed me we were going to make a craft together for Mother's day and then we were going to do some dancing.Beverly, aka Beestamper, was enthralled with the $1 buckets at Target. She and a friend turned them into these Mother'd Day gift containers for themed little extras.
We arrived at 6 and got started making our craft.
We were given a clay pot and the girls were to paint something on it that they like to do with their Mom's. Jennifer painted her and I gardening, it was a masterpiece, she painted the sun, butterflies, a rainbow and some beautiful flowers on it.
The next step was to plant some impatience in the pot, she chose a wonderful cheery pink color.
When all was finished(dancing and all) we left for home.
Just as I was driving home she piped up in the backseat "I'm so glad you could come Mom"
I said "I was so pleased that we had such a nice time"
The she added"Do you like the patience I gave to you in the pot"
I broke into laughter and told her they were called impatience.
She replied with a frown "Your already impatient"
I love this child, LOL.
Giving me a pot of "Patience", if were that easy, he he .
Nathan Bowers is giving his mother a custom painted canvas sketchbook. I think his masterpiece looks great!
You need a blank canvas sketchbook from your local art or craft supply store and markers or paint. You also need years to hone your artistic ability, or if you’re like me and skipped all that pesky training, you can embrace abstract art.
Not super confident working directly with markers? You can do a design in pencil and fill it in with ink. Present for mom? Draw like you did in kindergarten and she’ll probably love it even more.
If all that’s too hard, just drop some paint on the book from about 3 feet up Pollock-style. That’s what’s great about the improvisational arts. There is no “wrong”. There’s just “do”.
While this was written several months ago, but I've holding on to it because it speaks of everything good about Mothers Who Craft. A perfect tribute on their day! Anna, younger sister to BlogHer Goddess Lisa Stone, acknowledges that her mother, who taught her how to sew, is a saint.
My mother is a saint. She taught me how to sew…’nuff said. If you do not sew, you can not fathom the patience, focus, and combination of geometry, second sight, and straight up luck it requires. It is truly an art from an era where people had endless hours of time void of distractions like television, cell phones, and email as well as a lack of unlimited, affordable, store-bought clothing made overseas.Happy Mother's Day to you playful, artful, impatient, creative, under-appreciated, over-inspired, buried-in-stash-and- supplies spirits. May you spend part of your day making something wonderful.
My mother is a woman who, after spending several hours (probably about 10 or so, total) on the pattern I’d selected for my 8th grade graduation dress (a tea-length dress with a full skirt and strapless with fan-like, wide pleating in the bodice in a peach cotton) almost throttled me when I said I’d rather have store-bought. I’m not sure what possessed me, I think I was just wanting to fit in more. What a fucking princess! I would have been so much more proud to wear her handiwork. Instead, I felt like someone I was trying to be (that was new, not) instead of myself. I’m sure there’s a picture somewhere (unless I’ve burned it). I wore a strapless dress from Maurice’s, jealous much?!, with a short-sleeve shirt over it…I’d decided the strapless was a bit too risqué. Honestly.
Mom had put in several hours on The Dress in between teaching, raising 4 kids (my oldest sister was in college at that point), driving 2 of us to every sporting and musical event we were involved in, and studying for her master’s degree. Good lord. What an asshole. I remember the look of rage she shot me as she bundled the almost completed dress into a paper bag and muttered, “I’ve been sewing for Goodwill for 10 years!” I was a thankless wretch.
I also blog at: Deb's Daily Distractions and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.
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