Special Mother's Day Crafts From Kids on Mother's Day

As a special Mother's Day treat, have your children celebrate mom with a personal touch. Small children can spend time preparing a homemade Mother's Day gift that will make a wonderful surprise and serve as a memento for years to come. While the children are working on making this special gift, a personalized flower pot, they will also be helping to hone their fine motor skills.

To get started making this particular Mother's Day gift, you will need the following items:

Modeling Clay

Pencil

Thin Stick or Matchstick (used to decorate the pot)

Flowers

Modeling clay may be purchased at a crafts store. This type of clay is very strong and dries quickly, within just a few hours. The recommendation is to obtain artificial flowers or dried flowers and dried grass seeds to make flowers. Another option for older kids is to have them make flowers themselves. This can easily be done using buttons, florist tape and florist wire. Taking a small button, thread one of the button holes with some florist wire. Start at the bottom, then loop back and push the wire through the top back to the bottom and through another hole. Take the ends of florist wire and twist them tightly. The last step is to cover the wire with florist's tape, making a single button flower. Continue in the same manner until you have made as many button flowers as you will need.

Whichever method you choose for making flowers, you will need a pot to hold the flowers. Start by rolling the modeling clay in a ball. The ball you roll out should be the same size as your final pot will be. Ultimately, though, this should not be too big but just big enough to hold the flowers. Taking the pencil, press a hole into the pot by using the back part of the pencil and pushing it into the ball. Be careful not to make the hole too big or they may take a long time to harden and will possibly crack.

Once you have made the holes in the pot, you can further mold the ball until you form a flat-bottomed pot. Using either the thin stick or matchstick, draw some decorative patterns on the pot. Finally, spend some time arranging all of the flowers until they are just right. The last step is to leave the clay flower pot in a hot place for a few hours so that it will harden into a beautiful, homemade flower pot for mom! This year, instead of purchasing a pre-made gift, spend some time with the kids making this flower pot for mom or, if you prefer, look for some other Mother's day crafts and pick one out that is ideal for your special lady.

Make some good mothers day crafts and add some short mothers day quotes.

Mother's Day Crafts For Kids - A Miniature Pot Of Flowers For Mom As A Mother's Day Craft

This mother's day craft for kids is suitable for small children. Make a gift for mom for mother's day. The modeling clay can be bought at any crafts store and it dries very easily within a few hours. It is also best to buy small artificial flowers to use as flowers or, if you can find them, dried flowers and dry grass seeds will be even better. Of course, if the kids are a little older they can make flowers from buttons, florist wire and florist tape.*

Because the pots are small, this is a very good craft for developing the small motor muscle skills in toddlers.

This is what you need for your mother's day craft:

Modeling clay
A pencil
A thin stick to use for decorating the pot
The flowers you want to use

Method for this mother's day craft for kids:

Roll your modeling clay into a ball of the size you want your pot to be. (Not too big, as you are only going to make a hole for the flowers with your pencil.)
Make a hole in the pot by pressing the back of the pencil into the ball.
Shape your ball to form a pot with a flat bottom so that your pot can stand on it.
Decorate the pot by drawing patterns on it with a thin stick or a matchstick.
Arrange the flowers in the pot and then let it stand in a hot place to harden.
Now you have a beautiful flower pot as a gift for mom on mother's day.

*To make "button flowers:"

Use a very small button and push florist wire through one of the holes from the bottom and then back from the top to the bottom through another hole.
Twist the two ends of the wire tightly around each other and cover it neatly with florist tape.
Now you have a "button flower."
Make as many flowers ad you need.

Older children can make bigger pots and make the hole for the flowers with a thicker stick. You cannot make them too big though or they will take too long to harden and they will probably crack.

Get more mother's day crafts when you visit Magriet's site at http://www.kidscrafts.topknacks.com/documents/mothersdaykidscrafts.html You can also get a fun mother's day craft here and Magriet has excellent bible crafts Here. Visit her sites and enjoy all the fun crafts.

Mexican Tissue Paper Flowers For Cinco De Mayo

Tissue paper lends itself to a wide variety of craft ideas. The tissue is pliable and easy to cut, rip or shred into pieces or patterns for fast applications to craft objects. These bits and pieces of paper do not need to be precise and measured tissue squares. Children really get a kick out of shredding it into confetti for craft projects. It is a favorite for artists of all ages and genders and a popular material in the craft world. Not just used to wrap up tiny gifts or as filler for protecting and hiding a fragile gift in a bag, has been used to make pinatas, papier-mache arts and crafts and beautiful stain glass looking ornaments for the Christmas tree, Easter egg decorations and Halloween craft projects.

Tissue paper can also be used to create beautiful Mexican tissue paper flowers in all shapes, sizes and colors. Though not time consuming, there are some more complicated ones which are a bit more complex to create, but well worth the effort if creating them. Most of these are comprised of materials like flower stem wire, tissue paper is a variety of hues, florist tape and scissors.

The celebration of Mother's Day and Cinco De Mayo in the same month can work in the favor of a crafter of tissue paper flowers. Not only can many of the Mexican tissue paper flowers be created for a festive Cinco De Mayo party celebration, they can also be used to be given away as a Mother Day as well. This is a very good craft which takes up little time out of a busy schedule and is a cost-effective project.

A simple Mexican tissue paper flower can be assembled with vibrant colors used in many Mexican settings. These colors are multiple hues of oranges, royal purples and royal blues, yellows, reds and browns. Tissue in all these colors can be found. Mixing and matching several colors up together to construct the final Mexican tissue paper flower will add interest and depth to the final project. Colorful ribbons can be added to further enhance the finished flowers as streamers or loops of color embedded in the bouquet of flowers.

Paper of various hues can be layered together to mimic the rich layering of colors that Mother Nature uses in many of her flowers and flowering plants. The tissue can then be layered to created a fan-like shape and tied together in the center with florist wire. The flower is then fanned out into a bowl like shape and the petals can be rounded, cut or notched to add interesting edgings to the Mexican flower. Florist tape is then used to bind the flower onto the florist stem wire which is cut to the desired length.

Another popular and more traditional Mexican tissue paper flower is one that created from six to ten sheets of paper. Additional materials are twist ties, pipe cleaners, ribbons and florist stem wires. The same tissue flower pattern is followed with the exception of the edging treatments on the edges of the Mexican tissue paper flowers. Traditional lacing patterns are created by pinking shears which create a festive and ruffling edge so many times associated with the colorful ruffles worn by the Mexican men and women when they celebrate a festive occasion.

Karla Scott is a stay at home mom, who loves creating and sharing about all sorts of crafts projects. She especially likes gift wrapping, home made party favors for weddings and baby showers, and tissue paper crafts. One of her favorite craft projects is making tissue paper flowers.

Crafts - Drying Flowers

Drying flowers is a way to keep memories of an event or place for a long time. Whether they are flowers from a bridal bouquet, or from your garden, drying flowers is easy to do. When harvesting your flowers for drying, the best time is in the morning before the sun has had a chance to make the flowers warm. Cut a good length of stem with the flowers, as you can always remove whatever you don't need. The method of drying that you use will depend on the type of flower and craft project you will be doing. Air drying works well with sturdier flowers such as statice, marigolds, strawflowers and decorative seed pods. The sturdier the flower head, the better they air dry. Separate the flowers into groups of 8 or 10 stems. Remove any diseased leaves that you see on the stems. Bundle a group of stems together and use a rubber band at the end of the stems to hold them together. Make sure that the rubber band is very tight. As the flowers dry, the stems will shrink and the rubber band will shrink with them. You also want to make sure the stems are long enough so that the tops of the flowers aren't smashed together when the stems are rubber banded. Now you just need to hang the flowers upside down. You can use paper clips, string, wire hangers (unraveled) or florist wire. Connect the hanger to the rubber band and hang in a dry place away from direct sunlight. Depending on the flower it will take two weeks or so for them to be completely dry.

You can also use silica gel to dry your flowers. (Silica gel is the stuff that you find in your shoe box in little packets). It removes moisture from flowers without crushing them. This works great for very delicate flowers such as hydrangea, roses, carnations and asters. You can purchase silica gel at any craft store. All you need is an airtight box (preferably plastic) and silica gel. Lay a bed of gel in the bottom of the container. Place your flowers on top of this bed and gently sprinkle the silica gel on the flowers until they are covered. Using a spoon works best for this to get the gel into the crevasses without crushing the blooms. Cover the box and wait 48 hours. That's it! Silica gel works very fast and the flowers hold their color. The great thing about silica gel is that it can be reused. You just need to place the silica gel onto a baking sheet in your oven at 200 degrees to dry it back out again.

For the most natural appearance of dried flowers, try glycerine. This is really preserving and not drying, but the results are wonderful. The foliage on the stems will stay a bright green and the flowers will be a bit sturdier. Prepare the stems by removing any bottom leaves. You may want to thread a piece of florist wire into the flower head to keep it from drooping, or tie the stem to some type of support, like a skewer. Mix together one part of liquid glycerine to 1 part of warm water for fresh flowers and one part glycerine to two parts of water for woody stems. Submerge the stem end only into this mixture. This process can take 2 to three weeks, replace any absorbed solution. Once preserved, remove and rinse the stems, then wipe off any mixture that might have seeped out of leaves.

There you go - three different ways to dry your flowers. Try all three methods and mix the resulting flowers into your craft projects for a multi depth arrangement!

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Crafts

Earth Day Crafts From Stuff You Throw Away

Circle April 22, 2010 on your calenders. Earth Day! Does anybody out there have a hooray for our home planet? We should really take better care of this place. It's the only one we've got! Although one day is dedicated to this idea it should be foremost on our minds all the time. Our children should be taught from infancy to do this.

As a craft-er I love to reuse and recycle (and teaching others how). I've done literally thousands of crafts using items I've seen others throw away. When thinking of all of them it's really quite hard to narrow it down so I can give you and your kids a basic how-to for one so I've written the how-to's for a few. It's something everyone can and should do. I'm not saying it'll save the planet but it sure could help---and you CAN BE A PART OF THAT!

Toothbrush Bracelets

You'll need:

* Old toothbrush

* Pliers

* Pot

* Tongs

* Large mug

* Glass jar or bottle, optional

Remove all the bristles from the toothbrush with pliers. Meanwhile,boil water in the pot. While the water is boiling, put the toothbrush in the water for approximately 5 minutes. Remove with tongs. Bend to desired shape. (Tip: Using the glass jar or bottle as a rolling pin you can flatten slightly.) If the toothbrush isn't soft and flexible enough stick it back into the boiling water. Place in bottom of mug to hold it's shape. Add cold water in mug and allow your bracelet to cool.

Be sure to use a simple plastic toothbrush for this, it seems the fancier the toothbrush the more difficult to bend.

Sun Print

You'll need:

*Dark colored craft paper

*Different items like leaves, flowers, yarns, faux fruits,or anything you wish

Take the dark colored craft paper and arrange different items on the paper. Place in direct sun for about 1 hour. Remove items and remove from sun. This leaves a silhouette of the item on the paper. (Tip: Frame them with frames from a thrift shop or yard sale, hang a bunch of them together for instant decor!)

Feathers flower

You'll need:

* Feathers, as many as you like

* Floral wire

* Green florist tape

* Tiny beads,any color for the center of the flower

* Glue

Gather your feathers into a bunch. Wrap wire around the ends to secure. Wrap florist tape around wire to give it a finished look. Add a little glue to center of "flower" and sprinkle on the beads. Let dry.

Coffee Filter Flower

You'll need:

* 2 basket style drip coffee filters

* Food coloring (2 colors), your choice

* Wooden skewer

* Green florist tape

* Clear tape

Add 3-4 drops of food coloring to one dish and 3-4 drops of food coloring of the other color to a second dish. Add a small amount of water to each. Ball up the coffee filters up and place one in each dish so they are covered with the water.(Tip: You can remove the filters right away for a light color or leave them in for a while for a darker color.) Remove the coffee filters. Squeeze the excess coloring out.

Lay the filters flat to dry on a paper towel. When the filters are dry, take the one you choose as the center of your flower and fold it in half to make a half circle. Fold again to make a quarter pie shape. Fold twice more. Cut a curve around the wedge approximately 1/2 inch from the end.

Repeat with the outer color except cut the curve right at the wide edge. Centering the smaller flower shape over the larger flower shape, insert the wooden skewer, leaving approximately 1/2 inch of wooden skewer in the flower shapes. Twist the bottom 1/2 inch of the flower around the skewer and tape with clear tape to hold tight. Wrap wooden skewer with florist tape, hiding the clear tape. Open "petals", adjusting until you are happy with the look.

My kids used to wash out old, used coffee filters then dip the ends in food coloring to make "flowers". and,finally

White Trash Bag Wreath

You'll need:

* White Trash bags about 4-6 ( white kitchen trash bags will work or you can use the larger Green trash bags for the holidays)

* 1 wire coat hanger

* Wired Ribbon tied into a bow, any color you wish (pastel for Spring, Red or silver for holidays, etc.)

Cut trash bags into strips about 6 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. (Longer and wider strips can be cut for a larger wreath). Shape the wire coat hanger into a circle, bending the hook toward the back to use as a hanger for your wreath. Tie the plastic trash bag strips into knots around the coat hanger ( The more strips you use the fuller the wreath). Add the bow at the top and add flowers,or seasonal decorations or, even leave plain.

These are only a few ideas listed here. You can craft so many things, using things people normally throw away and have your children help at the same time. As an added benefit you'll know you are helping the environment, being kind to our planet and Going Green!

Celebrate Earth Day!

Give a hooray to planet Earth---and have fun crafting!

See you next time.

I have taught classes for several youth groups and also adults. I have owned and operated a craft business, Robin's Nest, from my home for over 30 years. I design and make crafts of all mediums for custom orders. I have made tree toppers to draft stoppers to pop can creatures to welcome wreaths to angels to afghans to knitted items to unique candles to handmade soaps to gift baskets and much more I have run Robin's Nest successfully for many years. I especially enjoy working with children.

Christmas Flower Pot Crafts

Crafting for the holidays is the most popular type of crafting there is. If you are looking for different projects for your holiday decor, think flower pot crafts. Turned upside down they become holiday characters for your tables or tree. With a little paint, a few odds and ends and a creative eye, an ordinary flower pot can be transformed into a snowman, reindeer, Santa Clause or a gingerbread man for Christmas.

These crafts can use an assortment of sizes to get the same look. The only preference is where and what you intend the finished project to be. The basic pattern for most all character is an upside down pot for the body and a wood bead for the head. Styrofoam balls may be substituted for the head.

Flower Pot Craft Characters

Snowman - Paint the entire pot white for the body and the wood ball white for the head. Glue the ball to the bottom of the flower pot. Make a stocking cap and scarf from a scrap of fabric and glue to the snowman. Dab pink paint lightly on the cheeks using a cotton swab. Dip dot black paint for the eyes and mouth using a paint brush handle. Dip dot orange paint for the nose using a paint brush handle and using a toothpick point, pull the orange dot to the side making a pointy carrot nose. Glue buttons down the front of the pot.

Reindeer - Paint the entire flower pot chocolate brown for the body and the wood ball chocolate brown for the head. Glue the ball to the bottom. Twist two pieces of pipe cleaners into antler shapes and hot glue to the back of the head. Cut two brown felt triangles and glue to the head for ears. Paint the eyes by dip dotting black paint and glue a red pom pom for a nose. String a miniature jingle bell on red ribbon and tie around the neck.

Santa Clause - Paint the entire pot body red and the wood ball head peach. Glue the wood ball to the flower pot bottom. Paint the eyes by dip dotting black paint using a toothpick point and the nose using red paint. Glue strips of white felt around the bottom rim and top edge of the pot for fur. Cut a black strip of felt and glue around the flower pot for a belt. Form a cone shaped hat from red felt and a white felt brim. Glue the hat to the head. Attach white doll hair around the face for the beard.

Gingerbread Man - Paint the entire pot body tan and the wood ball head tan. Glue the ball to the flower pot bottom. Glue miniature rick rack around the face. Start at the flower pot bottom, over the head and back down to the bottom. Glue more miniature white rick rack around the flower pot rim. Dab pink paint lightly on the cheeks using a cotton swab. Paint the eyes by dip dotting with black paint and using a paint brush handle. Using a black marker, draw a mouth and a small curved nose. Tie a small bow using scrap fabric and glue to the head. Glue two buttons down the front of the pot.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about christmas flower pot crafts [http://www.flowerarrangingforfunandprofit.info/christmas-flower-pot-crafts/], please visit Flower Arranging For Fun [http://www.flowerarrangingforfunandprofit.info/] And Profit for current articles and discussions.

How to Make a Paper Flower - It's Not That Hard

Many people think that making paper flowers is hard. It in fact is one of the easier crafts to make. Just like many other crafts you need a book on how to and supplies. Paper flowers are no different if you want to learn how to make a paper flower you will need a good book or at very least a book and someone who is an expert at making crepe paper flowers to teach you.

I have been making paper flowers for over 30 years and I do not know how many times I have had someone ask me how to make a paper flower. Of course I am always happy to help them learn this craft. Not only is it relaxing, fun and enjoyable but you can make all sorts of beautiful items for your home and family and friends as well as earn extra money once your master the paper making craft.

The best advice I can offer you is to get a book not just any book but a good book that provides you with the following things; a complete list of supplies you will need to make all the flowers in the book, step-by-step instructions for each flower in the book, a pattern for the petals, leaves and centers and finally a nice clear picture of the completed flower. I say a clear picture because many books only offer a blurry picture that makes it next to impossible to really see the whole flower. This type of picture is of no use to you!

Once you have found the perfect book. Read it - every page before you start making your flowers. It is difficult in my opinion and experience to read "curl the flower petals" if you have not read the book you have to stop what your doing and go back and try and find that section so you even know what they mean by curl the petal! It saves time in the long run to read and familiarize yourself with the terms and techniques of flower making before you dive in.

Now you are ready to make a paper flower. Get all the supplies for the flower you have chosen to make first and all the materials. Select the color(s) of crepe paper you want to use to make your flowers and go slow. It is not a race to see how quickly you can make the paper flower. Take your time if you make a mistake it is all right if you can undo the mistake then undo it if you can not then undo the part you can. For example if you made your flower with half rose petals and half peonies - then pick a flower and remove the petals of the one you do not want and finish your flower. If you cut your stem to short then simply remove the stem and make a new one the right length. There is no need to toss the flower in the waste paper basket and start all over. You are just learning your going to make a few mistakes along the way.

The best way to learn how to make a paper flower is by trial and error. You could end up creating a beautiful flower or centerpiece from one of those "mistakes!"

Jane Morris
For the best and most complete source for paper flowers for your wedding please check our website.
For the most and best descriptive books on How to Make Paper flowers and flowers for your wedding since the 1920's and also to buy crepe paper go to:
http://www.paperflowerweddings.com
My goal is to teach all who would like to learn this craft the best and easiest way possible with pictures, patterns and detailed instructions.