MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA

I have such a bad habit of dreaming up huge homemade present ideas and then waiting until the exact last possible minute to get started on them. This Mother's Day is, unfortunately, no exception. I keep seeing all these cute painted Mason jar vases on Pinterest and decided that was the perfect present for both of Kinley's Grammas. They both love flowers and have gardens and what better way to show off your homegrown beauties than a rustic vase painted by your way-too-cute grandbaby? 

Well, bad news.

I waited until today, of course, to go on the hunt for Mason jars and, surprise, no stores that I had time to search had them. 

So, Plan B, I decided Kinley would just paint terra cotta pots for the Grammas to show off their homegrown flowers in progress.

Bad news again. No terra cotta anywhere. Just lots and lots of plastic. You would think at some point I would learn my lesson and start presents that require many steps and gathering supplies more than two days before I want to hand them, in all their wrapped glory, to their recipient.

Anyway, I had to come up with a Plan C on the fly. Kinley and I headed to the glass containers aisle at Meijer to see if there was ANYTHING that could work. While SuperBaby sat in the plastic pool she insisted I carry with us and played with a little Nerf ball that we weren't buying, a ray of light shone on my head and angels started singing: A CANDY JAR! That's it!

I grabbed two of those babies, distracted Kinley from her pool/Nerf ball dreams by saying the words "candy aisle", grabbed a couple of bags of sweets, and zipped through the U-Scan lane.

When we got home, I gathered up everything we needed from our craft bins.

Here's the list:

2 candy jars

Craft paint (the Martha Stewert kind is a little more expensive, but totally worth it. Best. Paint. Ever.)

Paintbrushes

Candy

Wet paper towels (for messy hands and mistakes)

First things first: wash those jars. I definitely didn't want to go to all the trouble of making them gorgeous and then notice a grody film under all the artwork. Plus, this is their last chance to get a really good scrub since the paint probably won't hold up too well under a sponge.

Okay, once they are clean and super dry, it's time to get the most important part on them--the cute little handprint, of course.

I painted Kin's hand so I could make sure every inch of her hand was evenly covered. She was so super patient with this part, even though I interrupted her Mango Peach play dough session. 

Now, there's no need to worry about getting a perfect handprint on the first try. When the craft paint is wet, it just wipes right off the glass with a wet paper towel.

Our first try was pretty smudgy, so I just flipped it over, tried again, and wiped off the first print when I was satisfied with the second.

See, you can't even tell...

I didn't fill in SuperBaby's handprint (I like imperfect kiddo art,) but I did just tap my paintbrush over her handprint so it wasn't so transparent. See what I mean?

After the handprints were dry, I just started adding more decorations--"love you", dots (made with the wrong end of the paintbrush,) and hearts.

And when that was all dry, I just dumped the candy in! Easy peasy.

Here are a couple of finished product pics for ya.

If you make one of these things, just make sure to tell whoever you give it to that it's not really washable. If I had had more time for product testing, I would've tried giving them a wipe, but I couldn't afford for one to get ruined today. I know they make a permanent glass paint, but I don't know how great that would be to put all over baby hands.

It just occurred to me why I procrastinate every single time. It always works out okay. I wait til the last minute, rush around like a crazypants, stay up until 3 am if I have to, and knock it out. If I just completely failed one time maybe I would learn my lesson. 

Maybe.

I mentioned last year's last minute Grammy present in the dragonfly feet post, and my mom sent me a picture of the butterfly footprint canvas Kinley made for her last year so I could share that with you, too. 

I just put little Baby Kinley in her bouncy seat, painted her teeny-tiny tootsies with a bright orange-y/yellow craft paint and swirled in some bright pink craft paint to make them look extra beautiful, stamped them (left foot on the right side and vice versa,) added some butterfly bodies and words and flight dots, and voila!

It's a perfect DIY for little feet...nobody cares if tiny toe wings are a little smudgy.

My mom has this butterfly art hanging in her office, and I'm hoping, the new candy jar gets the same treatment. :)

I've gotta dream up a card for Kin to make for my mom tomorrow afternoon...looks like I'll be perusing Pinterest after I post this. If you are a last minute lady like me, this candy jar present is a perfect option. It only took about an hour including drying time, and what momma doesn't love candy?! 

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