Dear Just Be: My kids want to make a homemade gift for their mom this weekend? Any ideas?

Mom's love homemade gifts on their special day and we have a few easy craft ideas to share with you that you can do before the special day arrives:

To create a "Love Note Flip Book," you'll need:

* Colored 3- by 5-inch index cards
* Hole punch
* Scissors
* Card stock
* Small metal binder rings

To assemble:
1. Fill a number of colored 3- by 5-inch index cards with poems, drawings, and heartfelt messages. Use a hole punch to make 2 holes at the top of each card, making sure the holes in all the cards line up.

2. To prepare a stand, cut a piece of colorful card stock into a 5- by 10-inch rectangle, then fold the rectangle in half widthwise. Punch 2 holes just below the fold, using one of your punched index cards as a guide. Fold each end of the card stock 2 inches in from the edge, then use scissors to cut a 1-inch slit in the center of each flap.

3. Stack together all of the cards, placing the folded card stock at the bottom of the pile, then bind together all of the pieces using 2 small metal binder rings (available at office supply stores). To set up the flip-book, just interlock the slits in the flaps of the card stock to create a triangular display stand.

You can also use this same project idea and create a "Coupon book" for Mom, with coupons redeemable for items such as cleaning the house, washing her car, making a meal, etc.

How about celebrating Mother's Day with a special "Garden" cake?

for this fun dessert, you will need:

* Pound cake or other loaf-shaped cake
* Chocolate frosting
* Ladyfingers
* Chocolate wafer cookies
* Sugar
* Gumdrops
* Green toothpicks
* Kitchen scissors
* Coconut
* Green food coloring

Instructions:
1. Ice the top and the sides of the pound cake with chocolate frosting.
2. Trim the top of each ladyfinger into a point resembling a picket fence.
3. Gently press the pickets against the frosted sides of the loaf cake.
4. Seal a handful of chocolate wafer cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
5. Sprinkle the crumb "soil" on top of the loaf cake.
6. Sprinkle sugar onto a waxed-paper-covered surface and, using a rolling pin, flatten gumdrops to a 1/4-inch thickness.
7. Use kitchen scissors to cut notches in the tops of the flattened gumdrops to create tulip shapes.
8. Insert a toothpick stem into the base of each blossom.
9. Make a pair of leaves for each tulip by trimming flattened green gumdrops into teardrop shapes.
10. Spear the base of each leaf with the toothpick stem and push it halfway up the stem.
11. Plant the tulips in the cake.
12. Sprinkle coconut tinted with green food coloring around the garden to resemble grass.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. Did you know? Anna Jarvis created "Mother's Day" in 1907 and it became a national holiday in 1914, in honor of her mother.