Mother’s Day Gift for a New Mom

A new mom is sure to get flowers and a card from the proud dad on Mother’s Day, but it is kind of hard for an infant to give a gift, right? Well, the infants in my family always gave gifts, but they had a little help!

Photo: SXC/Jacqueline Clarke

Get a non-toxic, washable ink pad and a sheet of nice white cardstock. (Smooth cardstock is best for this project.) Then, carefully apply ink to the sleeping baby’s feet and make footprints on the cardstock. Carefully wipe the baby’s feet clean with some wipes. Then, take the cardstock to another location and spray it with fixative so the footprints don’t smear. Create a 12 x 12 scrapbook page that includes the footprints, a picture of the new baby and its parents and birth information. Frame the page, wrap it in some pretty gift wrap and attach a tag that says it is a gift from the baby.

A few tips:

• Color coordinate the frame and mat with the baby’s bedroom colors.
• Consider the theme of the baby’s nursery when you’re embellishing the scrapbook page. For example, you wouldn’t want to put fairies on a page that will hang in a safari themed room!
• Clear the baby footprint process with mom or dad. You want to be sure you have a parental okay before you apply the non-toxic ink to their infant’s feet. If you’re trying to keep the gift a secret, mention the importance of having identifying prints on file or how cute it will be to see them when the child is grown and then make a copy of the footprints for the parents and make one for yourself, too.