Spending the time to craft homemade gifts always makes them just a bit more special. Show the mom in your life that you care with this eco-craft for Mother’s Day, using household items and throwaway materials like old newspapers and empty milk cartons.
Materials
- Newspaper
- Nontoxic red and green paint
- Paintbrush
- Scissors
- Bamboo skewers
- Nontoxic glue
- Empty 1/2 gallon or pint milk carton
- One sock
- Needle and thread
- Dry beans
Instructions
Flowers
- Find an old newspaper that you can recycle. Paint one side of a sheet of the newspaper red. While the paper is still slightly damp, cut out 1-inch squares with rounded corners (you’ll need about 12 for each rose you want to make). These will be the petals.
- Cut another piece of the painted paper into a rectangle, about 3 inches by 1 inch. Glue one edge of this piece to the end of a bamboo skewer, and wrap it loosely around itself, gluing the other end down to hold it in place. This creates the center petal.
- Glue the petals around the flower center, overlapping as you go. After each one is glued in place, gently bend back the top of the petal. Repeat until you’ve created a full rose.
- Paint a sheet of newspaper green. Cut out a leaf shape and glue to the stem (reserve the rest of the sheet to make leaves for more roses).
- Repeat steps 1 through 4 until you have an entire homemade bouquet!
Vase
- Cut off the top third of the milk carton and recycle. Wash the rest thoroughly and let dry.
- Stretch an orphaned sock over the carton, lining up the top of the sock with the top of the container. Cut the excess off from the bottom and stitch the edges together on the underside of the carton.
- Arrange the flowers in the vase, using the dry beans to prop them up. Present your gift to Mom on her big day!
Organic fabric background from purlsoho.com.
