For the first part of the gift, I went looking around the crafty blog world for something Cooper and Ryder could get in on creating with me. I came across this post from Brown Paper Packages and knew it would be what we would do- Personalized notepads that include the boys' own drawings!
I love homemade gifts that include photos- it's just more "me" I guess. And neither my own mom nor my mother-in-law, Janie, or Stephen's Grandma Sally (who had a big hand in raising him), are people we get to see all that often, so photos are valuable to them too! I used the instruction from Kierste almost exactly, other than I added some small pics of the boys along the top!
You draw a pencil line a couple of inches up from the bottom of a sheet of normal white paper. That is the space that I let Cooper (and a tiny bit Ryder- he's just not as into doodling yet) draw within. Then I placed and sized the pictures along the top of a Word document, as well as put the words "Grandma's Notes" in a cute font in the middle. Four is a nice number when it comes to craftiness, eh? :)
Then I took this exact sheet in to a local copy shop and asked that it be sized down to a quarter of a page. Then those were cut and stacked in sets of 50 and made into notepads with chipboard at the bottom. These will hopefully be perfect for Janie at work or and for my Mom in both her offices! They'll have something that makes them think briefly of their handsome grandsons when writing a reminder!
EDIT: Want a much cheaper way to make these? Click through to this tutorial at The Letter Four to see how you can skip the copy shop and make your own notepads! Could've saved a lot if I had thought of it before!
Fun, eh? Well, then just a couple days ago, Stephen had the thought that we should trying making our own dipped strawberries to add to the gifts also! I love making pretty food!
Aren't these lovely?! And they really taste yummy! I think I may try perfecting the packaging and selling these, along with pretty caramel apples, at a future craft show sometime.
We are anxious to give these simple, cute little gifts to our favorite ladies this weekend! Our Moms are some of the best parts of us- they are amazing Grandma's and such selfless examples- we love you!
Either one of these, and specifically the notepads, would make fun gifts for all sorts of occasions! We wish anyone stopping by a wonderful Mother's Day!
