Mother's Day from Miles Away

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser.  All opinions are mine alone.  #BestMomsDayEver #CollectiveBias Living 1,000 miles away from my mom is hard, especially with Mother's Day coming up.  As an only child, it was always the three of us: Mom, Dad, and Meg-Meg.  This will be the first Mother's Day that I won't be spending with my mom.  Instead, my goal is to make this the Best Mom's Day Ever, even from across the country!

Almost every Mother's Day, I've given my mom a homemade gift.  Ripped-out coloring book pages, tissue paper flower masterpieces (you know the kind), decorated photo frames, and haiku poems have topped the list.  This year, I knew I had to keep that theme going and made my mom a little DIY project that would be easy to send to her: a black and white collaged ampersand.

All you need is: a wooden letter or symbol of your choice (I chose an ampersand), printed black and white photos in multiple sizes (to see what fits best and not have to go back and print more), scissors, modge podge, a foam brush, different gray and black paints, and a paintbrush.

Start by cutting out each photo and glueing it to the ampersand with the modge podge, leaving a little space in between the photos.  Once all of the photos are glued, wait for them to dry, and then begin to blend the colors of the photos into one another.  To do this, look at the edges of your photo: do they have a light edge or dark edge?  Start with a paint close to that color and use the gray and black paints to blend the two edges into one another.  Once that dries, finish the letter with a full layer of modge podge (don't worry it will dry clear).

After my wood letter dried, it was time to wrap!  Yo yo yo it'll soon be Mother's Day, you know this gift will soon be on its way, time to tie it with a bow, then to the mail box I will go... oh, not that kind of rap? whoops.  Moving on - I grabbed these great wrapping supplies at my local Walmart's American Greetings card section.

Right now, American Greetings also a huge "Best Mother's Day Ever" card section in Walmart!  Seriously, it took me a solid 5 minutes to find the right card.  Not only did I grab a card for my mom, we also got one for Mike's grandma - it's definitely an one-stop shop.  There were also cards for godmothers, step mothers, great-grandmothers, and any other "mom" figure in your life!

Since this present is traveling across the country, I used tissue paper first to give the ampersand a little extra padding, then covered the tissue paper in the fun flowery wrapping paper I bought in the "Best Mother's Day Ever" section at Walmart.  I topped it with a bow, and the last step was signing the card.

I was really excited to find "mother from daughter and husband" cards at Walmart since this is the first time we've been married for Mother's Day.  The card we chose was colorful and heartfelt, perfect for my mom.

Now it's all packaged up and ready to go to the post office!  Don't forget, Mother's Day is May 10th this year, so you have less than two weeks to plan your own Best Mom's Day Ever.  Don't have a clue what to get mom? Visit the American Greetings inspiration page for tons of original ideas, and, of course, don't forget the American Greetings card for Walmart!
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• How are you planning to celebrate a special mom in your life this Mother's Day?  
• Is anyone else a homemade gift giver like me?  What's the best gift you ever gave your mom?