Published on May 5th, 2008 | by Stephanie Evans

Planet Approved Mother’s Day Cards

If you’re on a quest to minimize paper consumption and offer heartfelt, handwritten greetings to the people who touch your life in a special way, look to recycled and reuse ideas for a creative Mother’s Day card that leaves the tiniest resource trail…

Mother's Day Card, Made with Love

Card Crafts
Product Picks

Eco-friendly Card Crafts

Potato Prints

Potato printing can give any card the appeal of rustic yet sophisticated charm, and it’s an especially fun and easy craft for kids to create. Here’s how to make your own potato prints:

Cut a baking potato in half and use a pencil to sketch out a shape like a heart, flower, or star onto one half of the raw potato.
With a small sharp knife or a cutting blade, carefully cut down into the potato so you make a trace around the shape, which then becomes raised. It’s best if the shape stands out at least 1/2”.
Grip the potato’s end and dip the shape into non-toxic paint or natural finger paints (like those found at KidBean.com) and press a single print onto a small card or adorn a larger piece of recycled card stock with multiple imprints. When you’re all finished, slice off the painted portion and toss the rest of the potato into the compost pile.

Glossy Greeting

Press leaves and flower petals harvested from your backyard or neighborhood between sheets of newspaper or a magazine until they are flat and dried. Arrange them on recycled card stock or unused paper you have around and “laminate” them by pressing them down with strips of biodegradable cellulose tape (found at Green Earth Office Supply).

Scrap Mosaic Card

If you prefer a creative “free flow” to your projects, gather buttons, scraps of fabric, magazines headed for recycling, or last year’s holiday bags. Cut out colorful mosaic tiles that can be pieced on recycled card stock to form a shape, flower bouquet, or phrase of endearment. Make holes with a hole punch and tie materials onto the card with ribbon, yarn, or twine.

If you’re creating these projects with kids, use this as an opportunity to show them the magic of how old things are transformed into new treasures.

Word Bouquet

If your mom is a tried-and-true logophile, consider making her a “word-bouquet” by browsing a used magazine for words and phrases that bring mom and memories to mind. Cut them out and glue them onto recycled card stock or unused paper in the shape of a bouquet. Visit FamilyEducation for a homemade glue recipe that comes straight from your pantry.

Eco Product Picks

If your mom is “big” on traditional card giving, browse around to get some creative ideas for no-fuss options with a tiny impact on the planet, like these:

Look for plantable cards—such as the Mother’s Day designs and the Butterfly in Flight card found at Botanical Paperworks—that are embedded with wildflower seeds and made from 100% post consumer recycled paper.

Clos du Bois winery offers free e-toasts that allow you to raise your proverbial glass in your mom’s honor. The winery will donate $1 to national patient advocacy organization WomenHeart for each e-toast sent.