Mother’s Day art – Crafting with kids

How about we do something a little different than the standard paper flowers that I’m sure a lot of us receive on Mother’s Day. I know I have quite a few in vases in my bedroom from previous years.
Marisol and I decided to do a special mommy/daughter project together as part of our Mother’s Day celebrations – which we are celebrating early due to a conflicting event on Mother’s Day this year.
We made a beautiful piece of artwork that I will be displaying in my bedroom, and now each time I look at it, I will be reminded of that special time we spent together creating it.
The easiest flowers a 4 year old can make are poppies because with these particular flowers they do not need to be perfect, so if little ones cannot cut a perfect circle then this is the perfect project for them.
We started by collecting sheets of scrapbook paper and matching up groups of three colors together. I very roughly drew circles on the back-side of each piece of paper and then she set to work cutting each circle out. We were aiming for three per flower, each in slightly different sizes.
The next step I had to take over, but older children will be able to do this. Very carefully apply a coat of mod podge to one side of each circle. Bend each one a little at the edges, then place into a curved tray – I put ours into our fondant flower tray, but cutting a plastic water bottle lengthways will work just as well. Once that side is dry, turn each circle over and brush mod podge on that side too, then flip your holder over to keep the shape of each circle as it dries – they look a little like Pringles.
The next step is to paint your canvas. We chose a square canvas (I happen to have a whole bunch that I’d bought on clearance a while ago). In a bowl I poured a little green paint in 3 different shades, but I didn’t mix them together. I passed Marisol a brush and she set to work making stems for each flower. I then brushed a little paint onto a sponge and had her dab that around the frame to create grass and a sky. You can see how by not mixing the different shades of green it created a lovely effect as she brushed and dabbed paint onto the canvas.
While the canvas is drying, you need to assemble the flowers. Again, this is an older child or parent project. Stack the three flower petals on top of each other and place a 4-holed button in the center of each flower. Using embroidery thread, make just one crisscross stitch and then tie the thread in the back.
The final step is using a hot glue gun to attach each flower to the top of the painted stem and then spray a coat of varnish over the top of the entire piece of artwork and leave it outside to dry.
And you are left with a beautiful piece of art worthy of a little wall space.
I hope you all have an amazing Mother’s Day!
Happy Crafting!
29 Comments
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Beautiful and looks fairly easy to do with little ones! Thanks for sharing!
This is so cute! I'm always looking for fun, easy craft projects for my students – I'll have to try this!
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That is beautiful! Thanks for sharing…and Happy Mother's Day! 🙂 🙂
I love this! Will definitely need to do this with my daughter. Love the scrapbook paper you used as well.
I love this idea! What a perfect keepsake!
The flowers came out beautifully- will definately have to try with my gang!
hi! thanks for inspiration! here are our flowers:)
http://oduvashka.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_09.html
I found this on Pinterest and just love it!
Love love this idea! Awesome!!
This is a wonderful project! Can’t wait to try it with my boys!
Absolutely lovely wall art idea and a great tutorial. Had so much fund making something similar with my girl and her friend. Thanks for the great idea!
http://sewandthecity.blogspot.com/2012/02/fabric-sraps-flowers-wall-art.html
I am so saving this to do with my kiddos! I have two year old triplets (and baby #4 due in June!) and they are just starting to get into sitting still long enough to do a craft:) It may not happen this year for Mother’s Day, but definitely by next year! Thank you for the great idea!
Oooo! I love this. I have a 6 year old and I may borrow your idea so we can do this together.
This is absolutely beautiful and inspiring. I found your blog via Pinterest and featured your picture on my blog for Mothers Day.
I absolutely love this!! Thanks for sharing.
– Adele @ Mammy Made
Hey hun,
I featured this on my blog today, hope that’s ok. Would love for you to check it out 😀
http://mammymade.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/mint-stuff-ive-seen-10.html
– Adele @ Mammy Made
Lovely! Just repinned on pinterest to make this spring.
awesome, I have an in home daycare with children ages 2-4. One of the moms gave be 9X11 canvases almost a year ago, and I have been hanging onto them for a special project..and this is perfect!! We began this project today, by sponging the blue and green on top and bottom of the canvas. We will finish it up tomorrow by cutting the circles out and painting the stems. I will help them glue them on (FOr sake of time (one of my kids only comes tuesday and wednesday) and the amount of kids, and supplies on hand, I think we are going to have pass on the modge podge, but I think it will still turn out great!! Thanks for the idea!!
This is a really neat idea – I have a huge pile of buttons, and I’m sure the children in my class would love making something like this.
I love this idea and can’t wait to try it. What type of paint did you use for the canvas?
Hi Sara, we used acrylic paint for this project.
Wondering what type of paint you used? Did you worry about it being compatible with the canvas?
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for sharing this project! I am going to have my kindergarten class make this and raffle it off at our Silent Auction. I am so grateful for your generosity in sharing this project for all of us to enjoy.
This is wonderful – thanks for sharing!!!! Can I ask why you put mod podge on the flowers? My six year old would LOVE to do this!
Hi Lindy,
The Mod Podge helps stiffen the paper so that as it dries in the curved dish it will retain its shape. It also gives the flower a glossy finish. Ours has been on display in our family room for 2 years now and has held up beautifully.
This is such a lovely project!! I’m sharing this in a 5 Faves ~ Handmade for Mother’s Day roundup, with one pic and a link back to this post : )
this is adorable. i’m picky about what i put on my walls, but this would definitely make the cut!
The side with mod pod he goes down or stays up?
Thanks
Goes down.