DIY Mother’s Day Card and Ways to Show Mom Love

By Grandma Sandy | May 5, 2021

I’ve been trying to think of what the grandkids can do for Mother’s Day. A handmade gift is tricky because their mom is a minimalist. In the end, it seemed a DIY Mother’s Day Card was still the best way to show their mom some love. I also thought the kids could give mom a set of photo magnets (see how-to below) as their little gift.

Kids paint with watercolors to make a Mother's Day Card
Grandkids work on Mother’s Day cards after school.

I’m sure their dad will help the kids make a Mother’s Day breakfast. And we are getting together later in the day to celebrate.

A Simple DIY Mother’s Day Card

The kids and I have done many a Mother’s Day card. And they tend to end up the same–a drawing or stickers or stamps–alone or in some combination. So this year, we made abstract watercolor cards.

Wet watercolor paper with water and dab with watercolor paint to create abstract art for Mother's Day cards.
Wet watercolor paper and dab with watercolor paint; allow to bleed for abstract designs.
For the inside of the DIY card, use stamps to create designs and have the child write their name. Include a photo in each card.
Inside, have the kids add designs and sign their cards. Insert a keepsake photo of the child.

Take photos of the kids to include in the card. This is where my Canon Selphy comes in handy, since I can take pics of the kids and print them immediately.

Materials needed:

  • Watercolor paper
  • Watercolor paints
  • Paint brushes
  • Jar of water to wet paper
  • Water glasses or jars to clean paint brushes
  • Paper towels
  • Stamps and ink pads, marking pens, and other art supplies to decorate the inside

What to do:

Brush watercolor paper completely with clear water. Using paint brushes, dab paint into the wet paper, allowing it to bleed. Blot with paper towels if the results are too wet. Allow paper to dry, fold card in half, and decorate the inside. Water will have curled the paper.

When completely dry, press the cards under several heavy books to flatten.

Photo Magnets

These will create personal resonance for mom, have a practical use, and take little space, so it’s not another Mother’s Day tchotchke that mom has to store later.

Make photo magnets for mom with glass cabochons. Or insert photos in jar caps.
Magnets made with glass cabochons featuring mom and her family. The larger magnet is made from a plastic jar cap.
Align the cabochon over each face, trace, and cut out with sharp nail scissors.
Group the photos together, using a photo collage app. Trace a circle around each face; cut with sharp nail scissors.

I made these for the kids because we didn’t have time to do them together. I took the easy way out and bought a kit of ceramic magnets with glass cabochons. There were no instructions with the kit.

I used Mod Podge gloss to glue the photo to the glass. If the photo seems speckled, smooth out the Mod Podge with your fingers by pressing and smoothing the photo from the underside.

When completely dry, trim away any excess photo edges using nails scissors. Use a glue gun (not a low-temperature one, which might not adhere securely) to attach the magnets.

For detailed instructions, check out HGTV’s version which also gives you ideas for where to source the materials.

Selecting the right size photos is hit-or-miss. To save on printing, I grouped the photos using the free PicPlayPost app’s collage feature, set it to a 4:3 ratio and printed it on my Selphy printer. For a regular pinter, you’ll have to adjust to a smaller paper format.

Instead of glass cabochons, you can use jar caps to make photo magnets. When you trace the photo from the outside of the jar cap, it will be bigger than the inside, so your photo won’t quite fit. Simply snip about 1/8-inch into the photo, all around the edges, like the rays of the sun, then press into the jar cap. Glue a narrow strip of paper inside the jar lid to hide the snipped margin.

Package magnets in a Sucrets tin or other small tin, to keep magnets in place for gift-giving.

More Mother’s Day Ideas

For another DIY Mother’s Day DIY card, repurpose our Valentine’s Day card idea. Simply swap out valentine sentiments for Mother’s Day ones.

Make a heart-shaped DIY Mother's Day card. On an insert, have kids write why they love mom. Secure the hearts with ribbons.
Turn this Valentine’s Day card into a Mother’s Day by changing the message.

Embroider a simple project–a dish towel is ideal. Trace a simple shape from a coloring book onto a plain dish towel. If the child runs out of time, the gift can be packaged with an IOU to finish it.

Teach a child to embroider a simple back stitch to make a present for mom.
Teach a child to embroider a simple design. This design is part of a kit to make an embroidered picture to frame.

For breakfast in bed, even a three-year-old can make simple deviled eggs; serve with buttered toast, strawberries, and coffee.

Even kids as young as three can make deviled eggs for breakfast for mom.
Little N made these for an after-school snack; they’d be perfect for Mother’s Day breakfast in bed.

For a dessert for Mom, Strawberry Cheesecake in a Cup is a no-bake recipe that most kids can make on their own. Serve this after dinner, for a tea break, or even for brunch.

No-bake Strawberry Cheesecake in a Cup is a dessert that kids can make for Mother's Day.
Miss T and I made these during our online Camp Grandma last year. It’s a great no-bake dessert for Mother’s Day.

With Mother’s Day this Sunday, there isn’t a lot of time for the grandkids to prepare something special for mom, but these easy ideas might help.

To all the grandmas everywhere, happy Mother’s Day!

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Related posts:

  1. DIY Valentines Say Love to Mom and Dad
  2. How to Make a Love Jar for a Mother’s Day Gift
  3. Turn Grandkids’ DIY Valentines into Beautiful Art Later
  4. DIY Dolls that Kids will Love Making with You
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