You shouldn’t have, REALLY you shouldn’t have! I’m tough to buy for. I  have tastes that are hard to discern. I’m not being snobby, I always appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness of the gift giver, but to be honest, most gifts flop with me because I am so particular.  It’s either too shiny, too commercial, wrong color, too expensive, yada yada.  Half jokingly, my advice to my family during holiday time is: “if I can’t DO it, or EAT it, I don’t want it” which translates to “give me exotic condiments or chocolate, a massage or tennis lessons, or better yet, let’s take a trip and skip the whole gift thing!”

I started to understand why I felt this way once I read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Have you read it? Basically it helps you uncover what fills you up emotionally and makes you feel loved. You rank the importance of 5 categories which are Love Languages (below). Once you attain your top Love Language, you can communicate it to your family and friends, so when they want to show you love, they know what gets maximum impact. You can also learn what your mate and children value and then speak their Love Language. This communication makes for happier relationships, I swear it works. 

There is a book for adults and one for children too, and an online test. My love language was immediately apparent, and if you asked my family they would have predicted it.  My top two are Acts of Service and Quality Time, Receiving Gifts was last.  What does this mean?  When someone helps me unload the dishwasher, edits my writing, gets my car washed, I feel loved. When my kids and husband go hiking, play tennis or cook dinner with me, I feel loved.  When I get a bouquet of store bought flowers, not as much.  

With Mother’s Day around the corner, my kids start to poke me for something I might want.  They know I will love a handmade card along with a coupon for an “Act of Service” but they really want to give me someTHING too.  So…my daughter and I started a Pinterest board for DIY Spring Craft Ideas I would actually be happy to receive (you’ll see how these fit into my language).

 Some friends joined us for this TQQT (TrimQueen Quality Time) of creative crafting which filled me up, and LOOK WHAT WE MADE!

The Tassel Spring Flower Pot

The Tasseled Spring Flower Pot

We sourced materials at Home Depot

Terracotta pots

Heavy duty double stick tape or a glue gun

Scissors

Sisal Rope (3/8” is good)

Nylon Mason Twine (a few colors for tassels)

Outdoor paint (we got 4 small sample jars in bright colors)

Various flowers and ferns for planting

Cardboard for wrapping tassels

Wrap the pot with sisal rope:

Secure the edge of the rope with double stick tape or glue

Wrap the rope around the pot as many rows as desired

Cut the end and glue it to the pot

Paint the rope if desired or paint part of the pot

How to make your tassel:

Estimate how long you want the tassel to be

Cut cardboard twice the length of this dimension. If you want a 4” tassel your cardboard should be 8” long and about 4” wide.

Wrap the nylon twine 25 times or so around the cardboard

Gently shimmy the yarn off the cardboard and tie a long 12” piece of twine around the center to secure, using a double knot

Hold the yarns together and wrap the “neck” of the tassel about 1” down from top of the head of the tassel, double knot to secure and cut ends.

Cut the bottom loops of the twine then trim to even out the ends of the yarns

Tie the tassel around your cord covered pot

Finally, insert your plant for your own Pinterest-worthy creation.

Although receiving gifts is the last of my Love Languages, the Act of Service of making something handmade for ME and the Quality Time we spent together creating the pots made me feel loved. I hope you will try this with your kids, keep one for yourself, and give one to another Mom in your life. Hopefully it will fill her with love too.  Happy Mother’s Day!