Easy Mother’s Day Crafts with Homebase

I am a complete sucker for a homemade gift. In my eyes, it means so much more to receive a gift that has been lovingly crafted as time is the most precious thing we have. My Mum has been the recipient of her fair share of Hollymade gifts over the years: painted glassware, framed papercuts, photo mosaics, baked goods… I was starting to run out of ideas but thankfully, Homebase came to the rescue and invited me to a special Mother’s Day crafts workshop at their store in Selly Oak.

Jane from Tea and Crafting showed us not one but two ridiculously easy, child-friendly gifts that would make perfect presents for Mother’s Day (feel free to leave this page open suggestively on your desktop for your partner to find or give them a little nudge by using the sharing buttons at the bottom of the post!).

Hand Decorated Coasters

This genuinely couldn’t be simpler: take a few plain white square tiles, decorate however you like, seal with PVA glue and stick on four felt protective pads on each corner and you’re done!

Some decoration ideas include:

• Your baby or child’s hand or foot prints
• Your child’s drawings
• A plain or patterned painted background
• Decoupage (layering pieces of decorative paper using PVA glue) with tissue paper
• Some cute family photo snaps
• A mixture of the above!

As I was enjoying some rare baby-free time during the workshop, I opted for a mixture of painting with a bit of tissue paper.

Being presented with a plain white tile and having to decide what to do with it can feel a little daunting if, like me, you prefer to have ideas presented to you rather than feel the pressure to come up with something unique and gorgeous, but I really don’t think you can go wrong here. Mama Geek‘s little one Georgie created a really cool mosaic type effect by ripping lots of different coloured tissue papers and layering them with some shimmering hearts and Amy and Tots‘ lovely Keira decorated a cut out of her handprint which was SUPER cute.

Top tips:

• Wait as long as you can for each layer to dry before adding anything new to avoid smearing
• Feel free to be quite liberal with the PVA glue – it dries clear and I definitely think if you’ve got the time to let it dry, there’s no harm in slapping it on!
• Once you’re happy, give the tile one last glossy coat of PVA glue to set your design, getting it ready and wipe-clean ready for all those lovely cups of tea which will soon be sitting on it.

Macrame Plant Pot Holder

I was super excited to learn how to make this, and I couldn’t have been more surprised at it’s simplicity. To make the holder, all you need is some lengths of sash rope and a curtain ring (plus the potted plant of your choice). It helps if you have something to clamp the project in place to easily allow you to tie the knots, and this handy Quick-Grip clamp did the job perfectly.

For the lengths of rope, we used plain white sash cord but Homebase have a variety of different styles in store to choose from (including some quite funky colours!) and you’ll need 4 x 3m approx. lengths plus 2 x 50cm lengths. You can get away with shorter if you want a smaller holder – I quite fancy trying to make a really tiny one for a little mini cactus plant or something.

1. Clamp the project if you can by threading your curtain ring onto your clamp before securing to your desk or table

2. Thread the four longer lengths through your curtain ring and double over so you have eight strands of cord dangling

3. Use one of the shorter lengths to secure the top with a gathering knot:

• Hold the eight strands together and lay one end of the shorter length with them so that the end is just underneath your curtain ring
• Decide how long you want your gathering knot to be and fold back the shorter length to reflect how long you’d like it
• Without cutting the shorter length, begin wrapping it around all of the strands you are holding top to bottom to form a coil starting from just underneath the other loose end
• Before you cover up the loop at the bottom, thread the remaining shorter length through the loop
• Pull the loose end sticking up from the top, and this should pull the looped cord and your other loose end neatly into your coil
• Trim your ends, and voila!

Leave your desired length that you’d like to be hanging – we used about an arm’s length, and then take two cords at a time and tie them together in a looped simple knot. You’ll have four knots by the time you’re done and try to get them all in a line as best you can

Take one strand from one knot, and then another strand from the knot next to it and do another row of knots about an inch or so below the first set

Finish it off by doing another gathering knot like you did at at the start, and trim the remaining cord so you have a bit of a tassel and insert your plant pot!

I love the idea of hanging them on a really ornate hook or creating a variety of different lengths and colours to spruce up a conservatory. I’ll definitely be making this again, and I think I may have to look up some additional macrame projects to try because anything that is super quick, easy and ends up looking this good is a win in my book!

Crafts at Homebase

Not only are both of these projects easy to make, they’re easy to prepare for as all the makings can be found in your local Homebase store – no shopping around different shops or having to buy fancy equipment online. I’d never thought of looking in a hardware store for family friendly craft ideas but I will be from now on, and I bet some of the components are cheaper than the equivalent you’d find in specialist craft stores too. Bonus. The Homebase Kids section has a whole host of other crafting ideas too if you’re after any further inspiration including how to make personalised wall art and decorating your own tray (perfect for that Mother’s Day breakfast – HINT HINT, LPD).

I’d absolutely LOVE to hear from you (or even better, see pictures!) if you give either of these Mother’s Day crafts a go. Happy crafting!