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!