Make a Handmade Mothers' Day Gift with Bloom guest Amy

Can you believe Mothers' Day is Sunday?! We have some wonderful things for you this week--all from this darling Bloom community. Essays, recipes, tutorials, and more. We'll kick it off with a sweet handmade gift idea from Amy...

Hello there Bloom readers. My name is Amy and I blog over at Ameroonie Designs. I blog about motherhood, sewing, crafting and my adventures in trying to figure out this thing called life. I was so thrilled when Anne asked me if I would be interested in guest posting over here. I only hope my little project will do justice to their wonderful blog.

My mom is notorious for being really hard to buy gifts for. She always just goes and gets what she wants, when she wants it. But one thing my mother does love, is quotes. She has always been an example to me in her constant efforts to live a better life and be a better person. In her efforts to become the kind of woman she would like to be she often comes across thoughts and quotes that inspire and uplift her. Usually she takes these quotes and puts them on scraps of paper and tapes them to various surfaces in her house. Sometimes she asks me to print them off in fun fonts so she can hang on to them a bit longer. So, my solution to her desire to have these inspiring thoughts look nicer, while still being able to switch them out as her needs/ focus change is this:

An embellished clipboard where she can display her favorite thoughts. But, I didn't want to have to re-do the embellishment on the quote every time she wanted to replace it, so I came up with this:

An interchangeable embellishment that will move from quote to quote, while still keeping them cute and fun! So, does this sound like something you'd like to make? Here's how...

First, you will need to make an embellished clipboard. I got a small one from Staples. I have a tutorial on how to add the paper here on my blog. Once you have your clipboard ready you will want to find and print off your quote. Make sure you leave enough white space at the top for the clip and at the bottom for the embellishment.

You are also going to need some felt, a large paper clip and a hot glue gun (not pictured). Cut the felt into your flower shapes. ( I used my Sizzix and a couple of flower dies and a butterfly die- You could just cut them free hand, or trace them and cut them out.) Layer the flowers and stitch them together with a few simple embroidery stitches. (or glue them together, whatever you like.)

Next, you will cut a piece of felt the size of the white space on the bottom of your quote. This will help you keep the flowers within the space you have set aside.

Decide how you want the flowers to look within the space you have. One by one, lift them up and hot glue them in place on the background felt. Don't worry if some of the background color shows through. We're going to trim this off later. You will want to make sure though, before you glue, that the way you lay out the flowers will cover the paperclip entirely. Slide it underneath the flowers just to check that they are close enough together that you won't see the metal shining through. (Please do as I say, and not as I did. And don't look too closely at the final pictures. :) )

Once the glue has cooled a bit, turn over the flowers and trim off the excess background felt.

Take a second piece of felt and slide the paperclip onto it. Hot glue one side of the clip to the felt. Pay special attention to inside of the curved end making sure it is firmly anchored with glue. Put glue on the back of your flower piece and glue it on top of the paperclip. Trim off excess background felt.

Slide it on to the bottom of your quote, and you're done! Now, any time you find words to inspire you or your mother, you can swap them out, and still have them look amazing!

I really appreciate the opportunity to spend some time with you today. I love the feeling and the messages Anne and Emily share on their blog and I'm honored to be a part of their celebration of motherhood.
xoxo,
Amy