Mother's Day Plaque

I know Mother's Day for 2012 has come and gone but we thought this project was too good to hold until next year.  Plus, I think it would be a good project for a mom's birthday or any other special gift giving occasion during the year.

This was the gift for D's mom and she loved it so much it made her cry. So I got to tease him for making his mom cry for the rest of that week.

Before we begin, this project took time over a couple of days so if you make one of your own make sure to plan accordingly.

First gather all your materials
This first set of materials were purchased at Hobby Lobby

• heart shaped wooden plaque
• flower shaped photo frames
• narrow dowel
• paint (green and various flower colors)

Not pictured:

• saw tooth photo hanger
• hot glue gun
• drill and drill bit
• dark brown stain
• Green paper or vinyl cut using a Cricut

Paint flowers, stain plaque and dowels

• Cut the thin stem off the flower shaped photo frames
• Paint frames in flowery colors
• Cut dowels into 2 lengths (I think these were cut at 5" and 7")
• Paint green
• Sand plaque lightly and wipe down
• Stain (we used a random dark brown we had that no longer has a label)
• Let dry

Mark and drill holes for dowel in the top of the plaque
Drill the holes so that the "flowers" end up looking like they are growing out of the top.
D used a nail set to mark the location of the holes
He then used a drill bit that was the same size as your dowel
I am not sure how to explain this so check out the photo at the top of the post to see the angles he drilled at

Hot glue the painted green dowels to the back of the painted flower photo frames

Cut out your saying.  
I used my Cricut and my SCAL software.
I had to use paper since I didn't have any green vinyl.

The phrase we used was "Not all seed you plant grow in the garden."
We thought this was a perfect phrase for a gift that includes pics of all her grandkids.

Glue the letters to the plaque.
I used Elmer's glue brushed lightly on the back of the letters and a set of tweezers to place the letters onto the plaque.
I then brushed lightly over top to make sure they were sealed in place.
Let dry.

Seal with a couple of coats of poly spray.
Let dry completely (this step took about 12 hours)

Add a saw tooth photo hanger to the back.

Attach the flowers and insert the photos
Put a bit of wood glue in the holes you drilled at the top of the plaque and insert the green dowels
Cut your photos to size and place in frames
Let dry and you are all set to hang

I think this turned out really cute and it wasn't that difficult to put together, just a bit time consuming.  After seeing the look on D's mom's face when she opened the package was totally worth every minute.

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