Yesterday marked a special milestone in my life...it was my very first Mother's Day! It was also the hub's mom and my mom's first Mother's Days as Grammas, and as such I wanted their gifts this year to be unique, memorable, and meaningful. I decided to turn to the internet for ideas that fit that list of gift descriptors. Stumbling upon a few Google Images, I started wondering if a craft may be an appropriate gift.
Nothing good in my life has ever come from me uttering the words "I think I'm going to make a craft today"; yet, when perusing a certain inspirational DIY site (I'm looking at you, Pinterest), I found a craft that fit the exact "unique, memorable, and meaningful" requirements I was looking for in a Mother's Day gift. Pinterest filled me with the confidence that, armed with the right tools, I could make a really fabulous gift for the Grammas for Mother's Day.
I could picture their excitement and surprise in my mind....a few single tears would be shed during the unveiling of this memorable homemade gift from their first grandchild. Meaningful looks would be cast in my direction, conveying both appreciation and wonder at how I had the time to make such a perfect gift. My heart would swell with pride knowing I was becoming one of "those" moms who make perfect handmade gifts, cook clean organic meals, and can recite lines from the latest trending parenting books while wearing three inch heels and a full face of makeup.
I was sold. This was the perfect Mother's Day gift. I purchased the materials I needed and smiled smugly to myself about what a wonderful idea this was, how well it was going to turn out, and how happy the Grammas would be.
The day came to make my craft and I informed my hubs of my brilliant idea. He chuckled a bit, leaving his opinions and doubts to himself, and ultimately humoured me and offered to help. Our table was littered with canvas, paints, brushes, paper towels and wash clothes (just in case). I was ready. I was about to become one of "those" moms, following in the footsteps of Martha Stewart and Gwenyth Paltrow.
In the story I originally told myself, the next half hour would be filled with my hubs, my baby girl, and myself easily and quickly making our canvases complete with our daughter's hand and footprints in pink and yellow paint, surrounded by heartfelt messages of love to the Grammas.
In reality, the footprints on the canvases were drowning in two inches of excess pink paint, our daughter refused to open her hand after the paint was on it which resulted in a big yellow blob resembling absolutely nothing, and all three of us were covered in various shades of pink and yellow. To make matters worse, when all was said and done my hubs asked "You made sure this paint was safe for babies right?"
...
No.
In fact, that had not even occurred to me. It probably would have occurred to one of "those" make-up and high heel-wearing, perfect craft-making, organic food-cooking and well-read moms...but not to me. I was too busy covering my daughter with cheap dollar store paint toxins and wondering if "those" moms are just an urban legend. Off we ran to run a tub and get the paint off of our baby girl. In another unfortunate turn of events, the paint stained us, our baby girl, and our bathtub, garnering a few eye rolls from my hubs whose exasperated look read "this was your idea!"
When all was said and done, I doctored the canvases in an attempt to make them look less like blobs of nothing, and turned them into something resembling a craft that came out of a preschool classroom. That may be giving them too much credit though. Once we got past the toxic paint (which was just water-based acrylic in the end), the stains, and the utter chaos, we laughed. We laughed until I had tears rolling down my cheeks and I had to run to the bathroom to avoid another kind of new mom mishap. As frustrating and disappointing as making the craft was, and despite the fact that the craft will likely not last long in the homes of the Grammas (though the Grammas
are pretty sentimental), the memories of the three of us making the craft together as a family for our first Mother's Day together will truly last a lifetime. So, whereas some may think of this tale as an epic Pinterest fail, I see it as a success in so many ways.
Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mothers out there....even if you are one of "those" ones.
"The Inspiration"
"The Blob of Nothing"
"The Doctored Canvas"
ADELLE
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