Mother's Day is Near

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and whether your mom is near or far, it is a day to give back to her.  Do something to make her life easier, plan to spend time doing something together, or give her a gift that will make her feel beautiful.  Whatever it is, take the time to do something to let her know that you think she’s great and appreciate all that she is in your life.  It is also a chance to give back to those women in your life that are second mother’s or grandmothers, it is a chance to celebrate the friends in our lives that are new mom’s giving thanks to those people that are good mom’s and letting them know that you are proud to know them.  Here are some ideas to get you started in your quest to appreciate those women that support us the most:

Digitize Your Art

Take the art of the refrigerator and create a museum quality framed work of art.  With your digital camera take a photo of the artwork and then send that file to Image Kind.  Image Kind can take any digital file and transfer it on to a small or large canvas ready to hang.  They can also create greeting cards for mom to send throughout the year. 

Shopping list:

www.imagekind.com

Baked with Love

A home baked gift is always lovely, the gift is in the time that was taken to make it.  Even if you aren’t the best baker you can make a beautiful spring cake in seconds with the Cake Vase.  This handy tool transforms a home baked, or store bought, cake in to a customized gift.  It is as easy as placing the plastic vase on top of the cake, filling the vase with water, and placing fresh flowers in the pre-made holes. 

Shopping list:

Cake Vase, $19.95, Queen Anne Metropolitan Market (1908 Queen Anne Ave. N.; 206.285.3474; metropolitan-market.com)

Flowers,  See Paul at Queen Anne Metropolitan Market (1908 Queen Anne Ave. N.; 206.285.3474; metropolitan-market.com)

Get Outside Together

Instead of a bouquet of flowers that will be gone in a few days plant a tree with your mom this year.  Buy an Apple Tree-to-Be from Potting Shed Creations.  The kit comes with everything you need to plant and start your apple tree, along with an aluminum tag that you and your mom can personalize and tag in recognition of this mothers day.  It arrives packaged in a burlap bag with a bright red ribbon and it all ready to be delivered to mom. 

Shoppigng list:

www.pottingshedcreations.com

Tea Lovers

If your mom loves tea this is a fun way to use tea to create a spa experience for mom.  Select your favorite tea cup, or pick up a vintage find, and use it to create a handmade candle that she can light while she soaks in the tub after a long day at work.  Package the teacup candle with a teabag full of herbs that she can throw in to the tub while she unwinds. Visit your favorite loose teashop and gather rosebuds and lavender, or make your own concoction.  Pick up a cotton loose tea bag and fill each one with about an ounce or two of loose tea and hand stitch the top.  Pop her favorite tea along with some Biscottea cookies, shortbread infused with a variety of teas, and she will surely be in heaven. 

Shopping list:

Biscottea Shortbread Cookies, www.biscottea.net

Ameilia Teacup & Saucer, $18.00, www.anthropologie.com

Two Leaves & a Bud Tea, Muse Coffee Co., 1907 10^th Avenue West, Seattle, www.musecoffeeco.com

Domino Magazine, www.dominomag.com

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Who doesn’t love a pedicure!  Let mom kick up her feet, and ensure she leaves the salon without a smudge wearing these Pedi Couture sandals.  With built in toe separators she can stop worrying about running errands and ruining her toes.  To package the slippers, rummage through your gift boxes and find a lid that the slippers can rest in.  Pick up faux grass and trim it to fit inside the lid.  Nestle the sandals in to the grass and place a small vase with tulips inside.  Attach a note that says “tiptoe through the tulips with perfect toes on me!”

Shopping list:

Pedi Couture Sandals, $29.95,

Faux Grass, Display and Costume, www.displaycostume.com

Tulips, See Paul at Queen Anne Metropolitan Market (1908 Queen Anne Ave. N.; 206.285.3474; metropolitan-market.com)

Beauty on the Go

For those busy moms, or moms that travel a lot, this is the gift for her.   From work, to the soccer game, to PTA meetings many moms are juggling so much when they take a minute to look in the mirror they realize they haven’t had a chance to touch up their makeup or brush their hair all day.  Give mom a helping hand with Model in a Bottle, spritz a few times and makeup is set for a day.  Add a compact to the package so she can check out her perfect look at the end of the day.

Shopping list:

www.modelinabottle.com

Compact Mirror, $2.95, Bartells, 1929 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle

Savory Gourmet

Another sure fire way to please mom is to help take dinner off of her  list of things to do for a week.  Let Chef Marcia Newlands do the cooking.  Chef Newlands, otherwise known as the Savory Gourmet, attended cooking classes at the Culinary Institute of America's Greystone campus in Napa, and the world famous Le Cordon Bleu Academy of Culinary Art in Paris. Orders are placed online by Saturday and meals are delivered on Tuesday. The food arrives in an insulated carrier bag with ice packs to keep it cold and is separated in Pyrex containers that can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer.  With entrée’s like braised lamb shanks & shrimp scampi your mom will love it.

Shopping list:

www.thesavorygourmet.com