Being Martha's Daughter

Mothers and daughters have complicated relationships - period. Here's a fun article on Alexis Stewart and her mum, Martha.

Vintage Cards for Mother's Day

Julia Ward Howe, poet, social activist and author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" proposed a Mother's Day in her 1870 proclamation, in reaction to the devastation of the Civil War, encouraging women to come together to oppose war and promote peace. She also believed in the equality of women.

Anna Reeves Jarvis, teacher, local activist, worked for better sanitation for both sides of the opposition during the Civil War. After she died, her daughter Anna Jarvis continued with her mother's work and tried to create a day to honor all mothers, living and dead. In 1907, she gave out white carnations to all the mothers at St Andrew's Church in Grafton, WV. On May 10, 1908, St. Andrews offered a Sunday service honoring mothers. In 1914 Mother's Day was created in the United States.

Happy Mother's Day!

Photo Cube - DIY with Paper

Photo cubes for Mother's Day by Perri Lewis. Photograph by Natalie Naccache/Guardian

Perhaps spring is inspiring you to get crafty. With 6 photos, card stock, scissors, a ruler and glue, you can whip up a little 3-d gift and practice your geometry skills, too! I'm sharing this from Perry Lewis at the Guardian. She tells it best:

Like any handmade present, it can be personalised and it shows you've done more than dropped into Tesco on your way to visit. What's more, it might bring back floods of happy memories of all the wonderfully rubbish stuff you made for her from egg cartons, washing-up liquid bottles and crepe paper as a nipper.

If you're not going to see your mum on Sunday, don't worry. Make a small photo cube and send it, unfolded, with instructions on how to assemble it.

Photo cube

What you need

A piece of thin card
Pencil
Ruler
Craft knife or scissors
Six photos
Spray mount or a glue stick
Double-sided tape
Sticky back plastic (optional)

What to do

1. Draw a cube net on to a piece of thin card, or download one of these ready-made ones (pdf) and print it out.

2. Cut the cube net out: a craft knife and ruler will give you the cleanest cut, but you can use scissors if you don't have one to hand. Score each line carefully.

3. Choose six pictures for your photo cube. As each photo needs to be the same size as the face of your cube net, you need to either a) use photo editing software to make each picture the same size, then print them out, or b) print the photos out first, then cut them to size.

4. Glue one photo to each face of the cube net, on the side without the black lines. I thoroughly recommend that you use spray mount for this rather than a glue stick - you will get a better, more even coverage with no little lumps, so your pictures will have a smooth finish. A can costs about £7, but it lasts for ages and can be used for all sorts of paper craft. Of course, if you don't have any spray mount, use a glue stick or double-sided tape.

5. This step is entirely optional, but if you want make your photo cube a little more study, cover the whole cube net in sticky back plastic.

6. Add strips of double-sided tape to the tabs and assemble the cube. Again, I prefer not to use a glue stick – double-sided tape is far less messy - but use whatever suitable adhesive you have to hand.

Thank you Perry and a very Happy Day to all Mothers in the U.K. and other places celebrating Mother's Day this weekend.