I Wish You More Book and Pocket Pillow Gift

I wanted to share an easy gift idea.  We used it as Mother's Day gifts for our kids birth moms, but it can make a great gift for anyone you love really.  Even though it's a little late for Mother's Day this year, this is a great gift for anytime of year...Father's Day, birthdays, or just because someone needs a little extra love.  (This post contains affiliate links, but I'm sharing this book just because I love it.  No one has asked me to endorse it.  Shannon Fabrics provided the cuddle fabric and Fairfield Worldprovided the pillow inserts.)

I've loved Amy Krouse Rosenthal's books for years.  They are just so sweet and clever and have little life lessons in them.  So I was excited to discover a new one this year when volunteering at my kids' school book fair a few weeks ago.  Mother's Day was coming up and I'd been trying to figure out what my two older kids' should send to their birth mom's this year.

I Wish You More turns everyday moments and childhood wonder to express good wishes to the receiver, and of course has beautiful illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld.  It just seemed the perfect way for the kids to express their love for their birth moms in a sweet childlike way.  And we included some cuddly soft Cuddle Pocket Pillows too and had the kids personalize the pages to make the gift really special.

And I ended up ordering three copies.  Two for gifts and one for our family to keep.

Here's everything you'll need to make the same gift:

• Copy of I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• A permanent pen (the kind that doesn't bleed).  We used these fine point sharpies.
• A few sticky notes
• 1/2 Yard Teal Dandelion Cuddle Fabric
• 1 - 18" Home Elegance Pillow Insert.
• 1 18" Zipper if you want your cover to come off for washing.

Here's how we did it:

To personalize the gift, I gave the kids a pack of sticky notes and had them write down at least 5 of their own "I wish you more ____________ than ___________," statements.  Then I had them put the sticky notes into the book the page where they wanted to add in their own words.  This gave them a chance to fix spelling and move the sticky notes around in the book until they had it just the way they wanted it.

Then I gave them a permanent drawing pen (the kind that doesn't bleed) and had them write their sentences into the book.

I encouraged them to think of statements based on their own particular interests.

My daughter's had more sports references.

My son came up with more outdoors references and his quirky interests.

And then a little personal note at the end.  They also had fun adding dedications at the beginning.  And Katie, who has a couple of younger half-sister's added notes to them on her favorite pages.

And because one of the only things better that can make a sweet, charming picture book even better, is something soft and cuddly to go with it, we sent the books along with a cuddle soft pocket pillow.

I thought the Dandelion Cuddle Fabrics from Shannon Fabrics would be perfect to go with this book.  We chose to go with the teal/snow colored Dandelion Cuddle, but it comes in several colors.

You can find my tutorial for making this easy pocket pillow on the Fairfield World website here.  It's perfect not only for gifting books, but also for sleepovers and other gift giving as well.

Fairfield pillow inserts can be found at most sewing and craft stores or ordered directly from their website.  Shannon Fabrics cuddle fabrics can be found at many local quilt shops and fabric stores, and online at fabric.com, theminkyboutique.com, and fabricdepot.com. You can also view their NEW Store Locator to find shops near you: Store Locator.

Connect with me on...