Mother's Day Gift!

Well as Mother's Day is coming in a few days...it's time that most people at least tell their Mother thank you for all that they are and have done in our lives! The older I get the more I appreciate and love my Momma! She is my best friend, my solid rock, my counselor, my greatest support system, my biggest cheerleader, my first love and so many other things that I would bore you to put them all on here! My Momma is very near and dear to my heart! We have had our normal family ups and downs, everyone does when somepeople have growing up to do (namely ME!) but through it all she is always there! So....that being said (wipe the little tear from your eye) I always like to do something special for my Momma for Mother's Day.

I will tell you my Momma is not an easy person to buy for! Run of the mill gifts just don't cut it with her! I mean cards, pretty flowers, balloons...she just looks at you and has this expression on her face like "I know I raise you with a more creative mind than that!" So my creative side tend to show and I always have to take my Momma's interests and hobbies into account when making her gifts!

I will tell you one thing...my Momma LOVES pictures! She was scrapbooking before scrapbooking was cool! She used to keep the wrapping paper from our birthdays and cut out cool things like Papa Smurf and Strawberry Shortcake to decorate our photo albums! And this year Momma requested that my brother, sister and I have group pictures made for her Mother's Day gift! Well due to life events and the fact that my brother lives 2 1/2 hours away....that hasn't happened yet.

She also loves flowers! But not the kind for in the house...she likes rose bushes for her flower beds around the house. And for the last couple of years I have bought her rose bushes for Mother's Day in different colors of course...I even put my brother and sister's name on the card (as Big Sis that's my job!). But this year I have already give her a rose bush for another reason...so I don't want to duplicate.

So what's a girl to do???

Well we wait for inspiration! And on Monday it came! I recieved a Mother's Day Gift Idea from the Pioneer Woman website!

This is a pendant called the Mother's Tree of Life. Each of the little beads represents your children and this is a pendant worn on a 18" chain. I thought this was cool...but not as jewelry...and of course my creative brain goes....I bet I can make that! I have wire, I have beads...all I need is a circle...mmmm....

So Mama D swings through the jewelry department at our local Wal-mart while grocery shopping and finds some really pretty bangle bracelets!

Now these came in a set...there were 2 wider and about 5 of the skinny one's like these...I went ahead and bought a little nicer set, because much to my delight I could actually fit my hand through the remaining braclets! (You discover cool stuff like that when you have lost alot of weight! It's really neat when it happens...I put them on and just jingled the rest of the day!)
I also went to my computer to do a little research! I knew just about everyone's birthstone in my family...but a couple of my guys! For some reason remembering my sister, mother and daughter's birthstone is easy....even my dads (mainly because it's also his favorite color!) But my brother and husband...I had never really thought about it! So...off I went!

Considering my Momma, I knew that just us kids would not be sufficent, #1 she would be insulted if I left off her grand babies, #2 my hubby Tool Man is just as much one of her kids as I am.....so I had to modify the concept of the Tree of Life. I made it more a family thing than a Mother's thing...but since I was making it...I could do that!

So I started out with about 10 pieces of sliver wire, cut about 12" long ( I wanted plenty of leeway) Now in my crafting I have found that you can't go wrong with a spool of silver floral wire. I can't afford to go the "real" sliver route, most of my stuff is what I can find locally, and considering it's not going to be worn, I really don't think it matters. However if you choose to make something similar...use what every you like or have available to you!

Sorry I forgot to turn the flash off on my camera...so the pics are not that great this time!

What is showing in this pic is that I started about 3" from the bottom of my wire and started wrapping one piece of the wire around the rest to form the trunk.

Not that you can see it...but I then separated my wire into twos, spread them out and wrapped them tightly around the bottom of my bangle bracelet. If you refer to the inspiration picture you will see the "roots" of the tree kinda spread out and it has all been wrapped as two pieces. Well I tried that, and thought it looked tacky, I tried doing two or three together and that looked tacky...I finally settled on just one strand at a time, working from the center out! the wrapping over lapped just a little, but not bad and I was able to control where my "roots" layed.

Okay...I now have my "roots" and my "trunk" all I need to add are the "branches"! First I strung beads representing my Momma and Daddy onto the trunk of the tree (because they are the base). Then I branched out with me and my hubby, on one set of branches, and our children on another, with my brother and sister completing the other side of the tree! This is were the creative part comes in...you try to make wire look like tree branches...doesn't really take skill...but it helps if you mess up a couple of times so that the wire is not straight! What you end up with is something that looks like this!

Now I left my wires in a manner that if Momma wants me to as we add members to our family we can add their bead! I already added the bead for our new little munchkin (due oct 17th)...but you know how kids are he/she may come in September or he/she could wait till November! Both kinda scary concepts for this Momma....but you never know???
The orginal inspriation piece was a piece of jewelry...as I used a bangle bracelet as the base...mine is a little big for that...so mine is meant as something to hang on a mirror or in a window! I am gonna let Momma decide what she wants to do with it and I will add the appropiate hanger! I see it with clear fishing wire hanging on her bathroom mirror so that she will see it everyday...or maybe suspended over the kitchen sink!

Now as my Momma is my biggest fan...and always reads my blog posts...I had to tell her she is not allowed to read this one till after Sunday lunch! It never fails that she and I cook together on Mother's Day! You would think our guys would have pity on us one year and cook for us!

Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend! Oh this project only took me about 30 minutes to put together...so it would be great for one of those last minute gifts!!! Use your imagination and let what you have inspire you!
Total cost to me...not counting the materials I had on hand...about $8...but...I also got some really cool bangles out of the project!


God Bless!
Mama D