Bookmarks – A Simple Mother’s Day Gift

   M made these sweet bookmarks for his grandmothers this  morning.  I have to admit, the main reason I wanted to make something like this is because I am in love with my new laminator. :)

I cut out some 2 1/2" x 8" rectangles with my scalloping scissors, gave him some crayons, and he drew pictures on one side of each bookmark.
I pressed some lilacs earlier in the week.  To do this, I simply picked a handful of small blooms, cut the pointy part on the back off, sandwiched them between two pieces of wax paper and put two heavy dictionaries on top.  (We tried dandelions, but they just didn’t work as well as the lilacs.)

On the other side of each bookmark, I put 5 or 6 tiny dots of glue and M carefully placed a flower on each one.If we do this again, I’ll use glue dots… the glue made the lilacs turn a little brown.

He drew stems for the flowers,then I inked his thumb and he made thumprints for the leaves.  :)

I laminated them and cut them out while he watched.  I think we are both in love with my new laminator. :)
They are so cute, I’m going to have him make one for me too. ;) 

Have a beautiful day! :)

Paper Plate May Flowers

This post is a bit late, but I think all of May is a good time for flower crafts, and these would make a cute Mother’s Day gift!

My niece, S, came over earlier this week and she is a crafty girly-girl, so I knew a flower craft would be perfect.  M is not afraid of a little pink either, so he got in on the action too. :)

The prep for this took some time, so I did it the previous evening.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Scrapbook paper cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch strips
• Paper plates with the center circle cut out.  Cut along the edge of the plate to create a flower shape, and do the same for the circle you cut out, making it a good inch smaller than it originally was (so there is space between it and the rest of the plate when you place it back in the center)
• Tape
• Glitter
• Glue
• Tissue paper cut into circles, about 1/2 inch bigger than the circle you cut out
• Paintbrushes
• A variety of items to use in making faces… we had pom-poms, buttons, craft eyes, and scrapbook paper cut into mouth shapes (half an oval)

Begin by taping the end of a strip of paper to the back of your paper plate rim.  Then wrap the strip around the plate, taping it again when you reach the other end. Do this again until your plate is wrapped as much as you like.  I set pieces of tape out for the kids so they could grab one when they needed it.  This part was definitely easier for the 5 year old than it was for the 3 year old.  But it was great practice for those fine motor skills!  (The idea for this part of our craft came from the May issue of High Five.)

Turn your wrapped flowers over and tape a tissue paper circle over the cut out center, so it looks like this from the front:   Then set it aside for later.

Next, mix your glitter and some of the glue together on a saucer.  Using the paintbrushes, brush the small flower with the glitter mixture until it is covered.  I put wax paper down for this part, so the flowers wouldn’t be glued to the table. 

Then, make your faces!   The glue already on the flowers should hold the buttons, etc, but if it doesn’t, just use a dot of glue where you need it.

Finally, tape your flower face to the tissue paper circle on the large flower.  We used double stick tape for this part.

Add some yarn to the back for hanging and  ta da:

Cute little flowers to hang in a window or wherever you need a little bit of happiness. :)

Have a beautiful day! :)