Gifts of Love

We came up with a cheap, easy and meaningful project for our Mother's Day gifts to the grandmas.  Even though Mother's Day has long passed during my technology hiatus, these would make great gifts for any holiday for any loved one who means a lot to the kids.

First up, I chose the word that we wanted to use.  I found a simple font and blew up the word to fit on an 8.5" x 11" sheet.  Right click on the graphic below to save the full size .jpg that will fit on the same size sheet.

Next, we gathered the supplies: kid-safe scissors, colored bond paper, glue sticks.

I trimmed around the outline of the "Love" for the kids.  The tight corners were still a little tough for my five-year old's cutting skills.  FYI, you only need to cut the word out of one sheet of paper.  We were making two gifts (one for each grandmother). Thus, the reason for two of everything.

Meanwhile, the kids started cutting scraps of paper into small squares, triangles, rectangles - any shape that their little fingers could muster.

Then they had at it, gluing the scraps into a random mosaic on a blank sheet of paper.  Every so often, I placed the cutout "Love" sheet over the mosaic to make sure the scraps were filling in the appropriate areas.

When the mosaic was complete, we used the glue sticks to tack the overlay onto the back sheet of the project.

Finally, a cheap diploma frame from Walgreens.  These were on clearance for $1.68/frame.  I popped out the glass and applied two coats of Rustoleum's Heirloom White spray paint to the black frames.  After I reassembled the frame, the boys signed their artwork, and we had a wonderful present.  I happen to know that the grandmothers each have these perched on their desks at their respective houses.

A cheap present with loads of sentiment!