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May

• First and foremost, you need to find your mother a gift...hint, this does not mean a jar of wrinkle cream, or you will hear cheery stories like "When you were born, your head was bigger than a buick..." or "I was in labor for seven weeks with you!" Well, to start off with, what is your mini mom's hobby? Does she garden? If she does, make her a little gardening center! Create a table from a rectangle of basswood and either turned posts or square stock molding for legs, paint the table with your mother's favorite color (remember, garden tables are often a bit eccentric, so be imaginative!). The work table will need a few essentials...dirt for one (try the fine railroad sand sold in hobby shops...a mix of brown and black preferrably!). Have the dirt sitting in a small bucket (perhaps a wooden one from the craft store, or make one from a modified film cannister) or cut small squares from a white grocery bag, glue together at edges, fill 3/4 of the way with an airdrying clay, add glue to the top and sprinkle generously with dirt. Stick a little mini shovel into the bag (the shovel can be a purchased item, or make your own from thin brass metal and a piece of dowel). You will also need little nursery boxes for the seedlings. Make a box out of a piece of basswood, and some pieces of trim. Fill box with a little moss (remember scale!), then add the seedlings. These can be simple shapes cut from green construction paper, glued into the peat moss. Other touches for the table? Try small seed packages (photocopied and reduced from real packages, or purchase a premade set), some terra cotta pots in the corner, mini gardening magazines, a watering can (can be made from fimo), gardening gloves (from bits of fabric, plastic or thin leather), a straw hat (purchased from the craft store) decorated with a bit of ribbon and a flower.

• Mothers like hand-made items from their children! Why not recreate some fun little childhood projects from your good old school days? Make a round disk from fimo, and press a mini doll's hand into it. Scribe your name in the bottom and cook. Mothers were also graced with such things as fingerpainted masterpieces...these are amazingly simple to make! One square of paper, some primary colors, and something (a pencil eraser?) to push the paint around with. When it is dry, hang on your mini refridgerator, with a tiny fimo fridge magnet attached to it. Maybe the kiddie-garten stuff is a little unsophisticated for you...perhaps you could make her something a little more grown up. Why not try a wind chime? Some fimo shapes, a couple of sizes of dowels, very small jump ring and thread is all you would need to make a little music in your mom's life!

• Now that you have shown mom you appreciate her, you had better take her out for dinner. For something different, how about a picnic at the lake? You can make a beautiful picnic blanket out of gingham checked fabric, cut into a rectangle, edges sealed with glue or fraychek. Or knit a blanket out of punch embroidery cotton and modified darning needles. Buy or make a small basket, and fill it with mom's day goodies...fried chicken, salad, devilled eggs, potato chips, watermelon,cake...all of which can be made from fimo. Make cola/juice cans out of lengths of dowels and paint. Hey, why not try your hand at a picnic table? Take a good look at one the next time you see one...you will find that practically all the boards are straight cut, with a few exceptions. All in all a very simple construction. Build table from appropriately sized board trim, and finish as desired. Don't forget the picnic plates! If you find it too frustrating to make them yourself, try buying a cheap set of chrysnbon forms, or inexpensive metal plates and repaint with testor enamels.

• Mom also needs breakfast in bed. A bed tray can be made from scraps of basswood, painted cardboard, metal broach backs, or plastic needlepoint canvas. Add to it a little linen table cloth, plus a plate of breakfast. Don't know what to cook? Well, how about fried eggs (yellow and white fimo), bacon (pieces of elastic band with stripes of "bacon color" on them), pancakes (fimo), sausages (grains of painted rice or fimo), toast (sliced from a loaf of crayola model magic bread, painted appropriately). Jelly for the toast can be simulated with a little acrylic glass paint. Add a small present and make a bouquet of paper flowers ( Shellies Sundries has just added a new DIY flower section that you might find handy) to complete the setting.

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