Open Me When Letters for Mother's Day

Following on from the enormous success of my Valentine's 'Open Me When' Letters sets I have now designed one for our Mum's for Mother's Day! 

So here's what's included: 12 envelopes in pretty pastel shades, all with pretty pastel labels for each occasion for Mum to open her envelopes. Each one has been designed by me at Sarah's Simply Handmade so that the whole set co-ordinates beautifully. Along with the envelopes you also get a 'starter kit' so to speak of things to include in your envelope including quote cards, things to do, jokes, lavender & ribbon to tie everything together once you have added all your personal notes, photos & gifts etc. You will also receive an ideas sheet to help you fill your envelopes.

Let's see what's inside:

We start with an envelope for Mum to open on Mother's Day, where you can add a couple of quote cards, a joke maybe & a little note from you explaining what you have put together for her & how when she the time's right she can open each envelope on the days she needs to. (Picture left) There's also an envelope for Mum to open if you haven't spoken to her in a while, included a 'call me' quote card, and 5 things you admire about her that you can fill in so she knows although you haven't spoken you're always thinking about her + again add a little note. (Picture Right)

Next there's an envelope for Mum to open on her birthday with a pretty quote card included, + you could add a gift voucher, IOU Lunch note, a letter, photo clues to a gift or anything you want that you know your Mum will love (Picture left). There's also an envelope here for when you and your Mum have had a little disagreement!! (Hopefully not used to often!) it includes a quirky joke, and 2 quote cards and you can also add a little apology note telling Mum how much you love her etc. (Picture Right)

The next two are thoughtful envelopes, one for when Mum can't sleep with a little card with suggestions to help & some lavender. You could also pop a note saying look for 'playlist' and secretly you could have popped an easy listening playlist for your Mum on her phone / ipod etc if she has one. (Picture Left). The other is for when your Mum's feeling a bit down and maybe feels like crying. I have included some lovely quote cards telling her how much a Mum means and you can also pop in a tea bag. You can write her a little note saying she should take a deep breath, call you, have a cuppa etc or anything else that you know would help your Mum to feel a bit better!

These are lovely envelopes for Mum to open .. A Walk Down Memory Lane (as you can see I've printed out some photos to include in the one I'm making up for my Mum ) and you could pop a little note with some good time memories for her to sit and reflect on. (Picture Left). When Mum needs a laugh there's an envelope just for that & can be filled with silly jokes & a quote card all included in the set. Plus you may well have some inside tales & jokes you can add to this to make her giggle. (Picture Right).

Here we have an envelope for when Mum needs to know someone cares, complete with quote cards to let her know how much you love her you can also pop in a little gift, a chocolate bar? and a personal note. (Picture Left). We all have days when we're feeling a bit bored so here we have a couple of suduko puzzles & a Mum word search included, but you could also pop in a hot chocolate sachet for when she sits down to do her puzzles and some ideas you know your Mum would like to get her out of her boredom.

Lastly a bit of Ying & Yang! An envelope to open when Mum's having a good day with quote cards, add in photos, notes, little gifts, scratch cards etc. (Picture Left) and finally an envelope to open when she's having a bad day .. includes a '31 things to do when you're having a bad day' sheet, some bubble wrap with 'pop 3 times when required' and a quote card. You will have other ideas of what to include that will cheer your Mum up! 

So as you see there are lots of ideas & lots of items included ... just look at them all together!

This is such a thoughtful gift to give your Mum on Mother's Day that shows her how much you care and love her not just on Mother's Day but throughout the year too! I know you'll have fun personalising your envelopes and adding all the photos, gifts & notes throughout. And your Mum she will feel very special indeed that you did all this for her.

Open Me When Envelope Sets for Mum can be ordered here ... but feel free to get in touch if you have any queries.

Enjoy!

Sarah X

Some DIY Craft Ideas you can Make at Home for Valentine's Gifts

So Valentine's Day is a week away and to show your other halves how much you care how about some ideas for some good old handmade DIY crafts for them! 

Let's start with the card ..... the ones in the shops are really so expensive, and those of you that enjoy a bit of crafting will probably have lots of the things you need in your stash to make a special card, here's some clever ideas for you ...

I particularly love the Mason Jar idea you would be able to create all the hearts in a word document and print them out, So effective! and the 'tea-rrific' one really made me smile!

Of course you'll want to give them a nice little gift or two ...  I've found a few ideas that I thought would be really easy to make or put together with a bit of personalisation from you that will add that finishing touch to a thoughtful gift:

Ok so let's start at the top and work left to right:

Top ROW: Left: - make or buy a few gifts & wrap them all up in tissue paper and pop in a brown paper bag (you can buy these in most craft stores) & print out a label based on the song from the Sound of Music .. 'These are a few of your favourite things', Right: buy a wooden ruler, and with some red cardstock cut a couple of slots for the ruler to go through, cut out a heart and either stamp or write the 'YOU RULE' on the front!

Middle ROW: Left: a great gift to go with your Ruler!! Print the words 'I think you are just write' on to some coloured card & cut in to a heart shape, cut a couple of slots & include a nice pen for them! Simple but effective! Middle: If you are thinking of buying them some trainers I love this idea of personalising the inside of the box in this way. Get your best lippie on and kiss away! If the inside of the box is patterned you could print out your message and personalise to stick on the inside lid. Right: This is brilliant! Fill a vase with M & M's or even loads of 'Love Heart' sweets would be perfect, then buy some scratch cards, chocolate etc. and attach on to kebab sticks and pop in your vase & tie with a red ribbon bow? 

Bottom Row: Buy a pack of cards & think up 52 things you love about them to stick on all the cards, including maybe some silly photos etc. Hole punch each card & tie some ribbon, twine etc, to make a little personalised book for them. Right: Buy one of the little plastic sweetie tubes (or if you can't get hold of one of those any jar or container will work the same), fill with chocolate hearts, make the little 'kiss me' card & tie on with ribbon.

Hopefully you might find some of those could work for you but if not check out Pinterest there are so many ideas for DIY Crafts for Valentine's Day!

Lastly if you are planning a romantic night in, how about fancying up the dining area with some homemade Valentine Decorations?!? 

You have probably planned the meal, but make sure you don't forget to add the romantic touches to your rooms as well to make it extra special - who needs a fancy restaurant packed in like sardines with other couples when you can have a much more intimate night in at home?!!

Top ROW: Fortune Cookies these are really easy to make and you can find lots of ideas on Pinterest & templates on the internet for how to make them - just don't forget to fill them with romantic notes & who knows even saucy suggestions! 

Middle ROW: Left: Dine by candlelight. Decorate jars by glueing a paper doily and red heart to the front & securing with bakers twine. As you can see so simple by really effective too! Right: Make some heart bunting from paper, cardstock or pretty fabrics if you sew and decorate your room.

Bottom ROW: Make a sharing dessert & create lots of little bits to add a special touch. I also like the idea of tying together your cutlery maybe with a red ribbon, and putting some heart confetti on the table. Right: Of course he's bought you flowers! but you could create your own little Valentine table centre piece too ... grab a pot, paint it, fill with some oasis, wrap green raffia around some kebab sticks and glue in place. Cut out hearts & leaves from paper & card and stick on to the stems. Pop some shredded tissue or similar over the oasis & tie a bow around the pot.

So there you have it! You have a week of romantic crafting ahead of you ~ enjoy! And if you don't have time to make a gift this year check out my Valentine Gift selection here

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! 

Sarah X