Mother's Day picture frame craft

Head to Hobby Lobby- grab some supplies because we are making the Mother’s Day picture frame craft for the cutest gift idea!

This post is sponsored by Hobby Lobby. All opinions and ideas are my own.

As Mother’s Day approaches, many of us struggle to find the perfect gift to express our love and appreciation for the most important woman in our lives. With the endless options available, it’s hard to find something that is both meaningful and unique. But what if I told you that you could create a gift that is not only special, but also handmade with love?

I’m talking about a Mother’s Day picture frame craft. This simple yet heartfelt gift is sure to bring a smile to your mom’s face and make her feel truly cherished.

This project is perfect for kids of ALL ages!

If you have a young baby or toddler, press out the clay and press their handprint in it. Or press their little fingers into the centers of some flower-shaped clay cutouts.
Toddlers and kids: give them some clay and then create their own little creations! Even if they make a clay giraffe- I would still think it’s the sweetest frame ever!
Teens and older: have a girls’ night! Gather up the supplies, and you each can make a darling, meaningful gift to give to your mom, mother in law, or even grandma!

I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process of creating a beautiful picture frame for your mom, using materials that are easily available and easy to work with. So, let’s get crafting and make this Mother’s Day unforgettable for the most important woman in our lives!

Supplies to make a Mother’s Day picture frame

Oven-baked clay
unfinished wood frames
paint (for unfinished frames)
brayer or roller
Sculpting tools
Texture pads
Stamps/cookie cutters
glue (we used hot glue but if your kids are little you might want to use E6000.
Glass Mat

Clay:

I like oven-baked clay because it has less cracking than air-dried clay (in my experience anyway!) PLUS, it only takes about 15 minutes in the oven (depending on thickness), so you can finish these frames in one night versus having to wait for the clay to dry completely. We used the sculpey brand but there are lots of options.

Frames:

We used unfinished wood frames. They have a couple of different sizes and come in pack of 3! Best bang for your buck! But we also did add some clay on finished frames because we found a few we loved. Hobby Lobby has so many options.

There are also unfinished jewelry boxes you could do this technique with!

Stamps:

I found stamps all over Hobby Lobby. There were some right in the clay section. I also found some in the jewelry shop. And then I found some in the bakery aisle! Between all three, there was a great selection. My most used ones were the flower shapes and this alphabet/number stamp kit!

Optional items

I know I used quite a few supplies, but that doesn’t mean you have to purchase all of them. The brayer I had was from an older project. The glass mat was one I’ve had for a while- You could use anything with a smooth finish to roll and cut the clay on.

If you don’t want to purchase sculping tools, you can just give the kids plastic knives and forks to cut out and create texture!

The texture pads were cool- I grabbed them because I really wanted to try them. But you can look around your house and find some items you have on hand that have a cool texture and press into the clay.

I just wanted to note that I don’t like to use the same tools for crafting as I do for cooking/baking. So even though I found these in the bakery aisle, I will probably leave them all in the clay bin and not risk cross-contamination. I’m sure you could clean them really well if you wanted to reuse them with fondant or cookies, but just be careful.

How to make a Mother’s Day picture frame craft

I know I call these Mother’s Day frames, but you could make these darling frames for grandmothers, too! Instead of mom, how cute to add in your nickname for your grandman; Nana, GiGi etc!

Step 1: Paint the frame

If you are using unfinished wood frames, I start painting them first so I can make sure they are dry when I’m ready to glue on the claySe pieces.

I will show you some frames that we made that were already finished-n

Step 2: roll out clay

It’s time to start creating with clay. I found the clay soft to work with directly from the package. But if you come across some clay that is hard to work with, just hold it in your hand. The warmth from your hand with make it more pliable.

I used my brayer to roll out the clay so I could have a nice flat surface to work with.

Step 3: Punch out designs

Once the clay is all smooth, you can press in your stamps and cut out any shapes you want! Just like making sugar cookies!

These round alphabet punches are made for fondant- but worked so well for clay!

And I loved these stamps (found in the clay aisle at Hobby Lobby). They are small and perfect for adding little notes into the clay. You slide them into place and it keeps them lined up straight!

Step 4

You can also just freehand. Using a clay tool or a plastic knife, cut out designs in the clay. You can even cut out the words ‘mom’ or ‘I love you.’

Step 5: Embellishment

There are so many ways to make these really unique. Press in some texture to make the flowers or words.

Add in any fun details, trim around or layer some flowers on top.

Once the clay sticks to other clay, it’s hard to remove without leaving a little of the clay behind. So, make sure you are placing it right where you want it to go. You can also dry each piece separately and then glue them together once they are hard.

Try pressing your kids fingerprints into the clay for an extra special momento!

Step 6: Bake

I placed a parchment sheet on my cookie sheet and followed the instructions on the back of the clay packaging as far as what temperature and for how long. Place it in the oven and bake to make it hard!

When you take them out of the oven, they are still a little pliable. As they cool, they will harden completely.

Step 7: Attach

Once they are cool, place them on the frame as you want them. Your kids can lay them out how they like, and you can glue them into place for them. If your kids are older, they can glue them on themselves. I used hot glue, but E6000 would work great too!

Make sure you don’t have any clay pieces overlapping the bottom so the frame will sit flush.

Here is a frame we bought already finished, and we just added a bow and a tag made of clay onto it! It’s a great alternative if you don’t want to mess with paint!

Step 8: Fill the frame

Technically, your gift recipient can fill the frame with whatever they want. But if you want to finish it off, fill the new cute frame with your favorite photo, write a sweet letter (or frame a letter you recieved), add in an ultrasound picture, or even a cut out silhouette.

The frames turned out so darling! You can customize it to your mom’s or grandma’s likes! If she loves strawberries, make some strawberries out of clay. If she loves sewing, make some cute sewing notions! Being creative is the best part of this idea!

Variation: Mother’s day Jewelry box

My daughter wanted to create a jewelry box- So I wanted to show you that cool alternative in case you wanted something other than a frame!

Hobby Lobby has a whole aisle of fun unfinished wood items! So let your creativity go and make something for you mom that she will use and love!

It’s created the exact same way! Paint first. Make your clay design. Bake it. and then glue it onto the jewelry box! It turned out so cute!

Here is another jewelry box.

Save this Mother’s Day craft for later

Too busy to get crafting today? No problem! Pin this post to remind yourself about this project later! Sharing my projects helps me reach more people, allowing me to continue sharing free content!

Ready to tackle another fun craft? Try creating a mosaic planter!

This post is sponsored by Hobb y Lobby. All opinions and ideas are my own.