A custom gift for Mother's Day... by Lisa Leonard

I love playing with my camera. So when I spotted this sweet charm, I knew it would be mine one day.

What about you? Do you have a special hobby? Or perhaps desire a special piece for a special someone?

Lisa Leonard Designs is your girl!

Lisa's custom pieces are avail in MANY different designs and come in either fine pewter or sterling silver.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces with moms in mind.

Molded Heart

every person in our lives changes us and molds our heart. melt her heart with our custom, hand-stamped molded heart necklace. it's hand-molded and cast in sterling silver {and absolutely gorgeous}. customize both sides with names, a phrase or special date--up to 32 characters. a pretty, easy piece for every day wear. the heart is about 1" in size!

Marked By Love

Some lives, though short, profoundly change the world and leave a mark on our hearts. for moms who have lost a child, their hearts are forever marked by love. this beautiful necklace was created in collaboration with angie smith {bring the rain} who lost her baby girl, audrey caroline. 

Celebrate Mom


Motherhood is a beautiful thing--full of laughter, tears, worry and joy. Celebrate mom and all she does with our brand new necklace! Hand-cast in fine pewter and strung on sterling plated chain, it's absolutely gorgeous and full of meaning. Pendant measures about 1" in length.

You're the Cream in my Coffee

inspired by the nat king cole song {and my extreme love of coffee}, this necklace is the perfect way to capture your loved ones and keep them close to your heart. our exclusive coffee cup is hand-stamped on a hand cast sterling pendant, paired with a custom tag and topped off with a freshwater pearl. add additional tags if you wish!

Home decor

Weddings

There are other lovely things to choose from other than jewelry as well!

Camera Necklace

My own piece came tucked inside a sweet little cotton bag. Just like a little gift within a gift. LOVE.

Would you like to either treat yourself or perhaps another to a custom tailored gift? 

Two ways to save...

Use the code funky20 for 20% off on your order!

(offer good until Mon May 7 12:00 PM midnight PST)

Order HERE.

Sign up to Lisa's newsletter for an extra entry HERE, 
to get 15% off your order anytime!

Stay on top of Lisa Leonard's new reveals etc with the above links!

What hobby would you love to see on a necklace?

Disclosure statement: I was compensated to highlight these lovely items, however my opinions are my own.

A rustic tray for Mother's Day... with Martha Stewart Crafts

 (Intro on main blog was here )

Creating something out of reclaimed lumber is a given on my blog. 

But the challenge before me was to create something for Mother's Day with Martha Stewart Crafts by Plaid. Fun!

Being that my mom loved the outdoors, I decided to create a woodsy branch handled tray, complete with coasters, perfect for dining outdoors on the porch or in the yard down below.

Martha's craft line

Everything you could imagine arrived!

 Brushes, stencils, stencil tape, sponges, tubes, containers, cleaners, even a heat tool so you could make your own stencils. I need to play with that!

... and the shining star... the paint. Guys, the paint. Oh my.

This craft paint goes on glass, wood and fabric. And the line even has a sprayer attachment option! 

But first up, I needed to create my projects.

The tray build

1. Find a board of choice. Scrub and sand well. Cut it down to the desired size. (I just cut one in half)

2. Brace the two boards together with smaller boards, attaching them with screws from underneath. (as shown)

3. Cut down some branches the depth of the tray. Cut four smaller chunks to support the branch handles.

 4. Predrill the branch handles and branch supports.

5. Screw the long branches into the smaller supports from the tops.

6. Flip the tray over and screw the handles in from under the tray.

Done! But it's about to get a whole lot prettier. :)

Crafting with Martha  :)

I wanted to keep with a nature inspired theme, so I chose a vine styled stencil, trimmed down to work in the exact location desired.

The paint was thicker than regular craft paint which made it fabulous to work with. I even mixed two aquas and a brown together and the result was a gorgeous olive green. (not used for this project)

A spray adhesive was used on the back of the plastic stencil. This stuff was just awesome! You spray it on, and within a minute it was ready to use. The stencils were really lovely to work with. Not too flimsy and the designs were just gorgeous.

At one point I needed to reposition the stencil and there was enough adhesive left in order to do that. Cool.

A guy design (dragonfly for my son) and a girl one (doily for me) created two coaster designs, made from scraps of wood.

The stencil tape was pretty awesome. It's a little thicker than typical painter's tape and didn't leave any adhesive on the wood. Loved it.

So cute!  Darker teal was used in the middle of the dragon fly, fading to a lighter tone as the design extended out. The doily was darker around the outer perimeter and lighter inside.

All the painted graphics got hit very gently with a palm sander to further enhance the weathered effect. My plan is to use a satin sealer or wax on the works.

The tray and coaster reveal

Are you ready to go on a little picnic? Me too! 

A funky little nest styled basket layered with a mason jar vase made for a cute centrepiece.

A couple of stubby mason jars made for some cute cups! A piece of junk tied to each one with twine would have guests remembering which cup was theirs.

We'll indeed honour my mom on Mother's Day with a picnic under the big willow tree beside the creek out back.

And I can hear her words already in the most delightful of ways... "It's very Donna-ish!"

I couldn't disappoint her now could I? :)

"Thanks for making it happen, Martha! Coffee and a little junkin' later?"

Martha Stewart Crafts by Plaid

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Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.