Cute Homemade Cards

 For Mother's Day we opted to make cards instead of buying them.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to go out and find the perfect card.  I used to really enjoy picking out cards for special occasions and "just because" alike.  Times have changed, though, and the idea of hauling all three girls with me to our local Hallmark (which is definitely one of the most boring stores for kids, I'm sure) to pick out six Mother's Day cards and spending around $25 to do so just didn't seem like fun to me.  So we went the craft store route, which I think yielded a much cuter end result (hopefully our moms and grandmas thought so as well), plus the girls really enjoyed making them.  A card and an art project in one - bonus!

I decided to go with a flower theme, using the girls hands as the leaves on the flowers. 

 

Both Melanie and Claire thought the feeling of the paint on their hands was kinda funny.

 

 Do you like our multi-seasonal supplies?  A vinyl Easter table cloth I picked up on clearance for messy craft projects and a leftover St. Patrick's Day paper plate for the paint.

They thought the project was pretty great, especially since I never let them get that messy.

I tried to think of a way to get Amelia in on the cards but wasn't successful.  I thought about dipping her big toe in paint and putting a few dots on the cards and using additional colors of paint to turn the dots into ladybugs or using one of her fingers to make the blades of grass at the base of the flowers, but that was getting way too complicated.  She can just join in on the fun next year.  The only problem is that means I have to come up with another homemade card idea :/

Once the flowers were glued on the girls got to add some stickers to finish off the cards.

(In case you're wondering, the flowers were from one of those small silk floral bushes.  I got the ones we used at Michael's and they're regularly $1.99 and came with six blossoms, two of each color.)

I didn't take a picture of the backs of the cards, but I had Melanie write "We Love You!" on each of them before we started working on the fronts and had the girls sign the cards.  Well, Melanie signed. Claire scribbled and I signed on Amelia's behalf.

Then it was time to show off their handiwork (honestly, no pun intended, it just worked out that way)

 I'm amused by how you can visibly see Claire's focus deteriorating with each picture.

I also had Melanie use the same card idea for her "Thank You" cards for her teacher and preschool director.  Hey, they were cute, I already had all the supplies and Melanie's hand was already dirty, so why not?