Every year for Mother's Day I stress out about what to get my wife. I prefer to give sentimental  gifts that can have value beyond Mother's Day. So things like jewelry or framed photos instead of flowers or a spa day. I understand women love flowers and spa days and those things might be part of a gift but in 2 years the flowers will be dead and the toe nail polish will have long since worn off.  Something like a necklace can be worn for years and will serve as a constant reminder of the Mother's Day.

This year I decided I would make a personalized art project that could be displayed in our home for years to come. I had seen some projects online that involved using your kid's hand/foot prints to make artwork and I decided I would do something similar. I decided to create our project on a wooden pallet instead of paper or canvas. I went to the store and purchased an 8 foot long 4x1. I believe it was somewhere around $4.30.  While I was there I decided to get a fun new colored stain to try out. I decided on "worn navy" since I thought it might compliment some of the colors we already have in our home. I believe the stain was around $5.

I came home and measured out my board to made the appropriate cuts:

Here is my board after I cut it into the 4 pieces I needed.  

Once the boards were cut, I got out my Kreg Jig and drilled the pocket holes (Kreg Jig isn't sponsoring this post it's just a really great tool that I love to use. You can read about how I used it to made Sconces and another Christmas Wall Art project):

Next I simply lined the boards up and screwed them together:  

After the boards were screwed together I decided to sand the top a little. This step is not necessary but I had my belt sander nearby so I decided to go over it a few times:   

Next I got the stain out and stained the tops and sides:  

After that I got the kids and had them press their hand-prints. As I was the only adult helping the kids and we had paint all over the place I didn't get my phone out to take a picture. After their hand-prints dried I painted the flower stems and added the date.

Here is the final product:

Overall I'm fairly pleased with it but I wish the stems contrasted a little more with the background. If I had to do it over again I would probably choose a different color for either the background or the stems. I've also been thinking about adding a flowerpot on the bottom to add another contrasting color.

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