Easy Balloon Flowers

Make these Balloon Flowers for a non-traditional Mother’s Day bouquet. Blow Mom or party guests away with these hand-made, personalized flowers. Great for party decorations and personalized gifts, these flowers are sure to please everybody!

Difficulty level: Beginner

Things you’ll need:
Balloon
White construction paper (cut into a large square)
Green construction paper (cut into a small square)
2 – Green pipe cleaners
Permanent marker

Things to do:
1. Make your flower petals by folding your large white paper square in half, corner to corner making a triangle.
2. Create a smaller triangle by folding this paper triangle again, corner to corner.
3. Create an even smaller triangle by folding this triangle again, corner to corner.
4. Hold the point of your paper triangle where all of your folds meet and cut a curve on the opposite end of your triangle. This is your petal design, so shape it the way you would like.
5. Now snip the point of your triangle where all the folds meet.
6. Open your paper up and you should have a petal design with a small hole in the center of your paper circle.
7. Do steps 1-6 with your small green paper square. Make sure the whole at the center of this piece is fairly small so that your balloon knot will fit snugly through it.
8. Blow up your balloon to a size that is big enough to write on but not big enough to cover up your petal paper, and knot it closed.
9. Twist the ends of your pipe cleaners around your balloon knot.
10. Twist your 2 pipe cleaners together
11. Slip your white petal paper on your pipe cleaners through the center hole.
12. Slip your green sepal paper onto your pipe cleaners through the center hole, and carefully pull the balloon knot through your paper holes to secure into place.
13. Write a message with permanent marker on your balloon and create many more balloon flowers for a fun, pollen-free bouquet!

Flower Hands Tote

Perfect for mom or grandma, this flower tote bag is both handy and a precious reminder of the little hands in your life.

Things you’ll need:
Cotton Tote
Fabric Paint
Foam brush
Iron
Waxed paper or freezer paper

Things to do:
1. Lay out your bag on a covered work surface. Slip a piece of wax or freezer paper into the bag to keep the paint from seeping through.

2. Coat your little ones hand with a thick coat of paint and press onto the bag. Turn the bag slightly and repeat, creating the petals of a flower. Continue to work around in a circle until you have the flower.


3. With the paintbrush, add the center of the flower and the stem.

4. Allow the paint to dry and then heat set according to the directions on the bottle.

Felt Bunny Finger Puppet

Quick and fun, this little project turns a little bit of felt into a sweet, wonderful finger puppet. Embellish as much or as little as you like with embroidery thread and you’ll have the perfect wee friend for your little Easter bunny.

Things you’ll need:
Felt squares
Embroidery thread
Template
Embroidery needle
Scissors
Pencil

Things to do:
1. Fold a piece of felt in half and trace the template onto the felt so the flat side is against the fold.
2. Cut the puppet shape out.

3. Using embroidery stitches, add eyes, whiskers and embellishments

4. Fold the puppet in half and close up the side and over the head with a whip or blanket stitch.

5. Trim all thread before playing!

Easter Pony Bead Melties

Everyone knows that pony beads can be used to make all kinds of jewelry and fun macrame beading projects. Add the beads to some heat and you now have a whole new world of possibilities!

Things you’ll need:
Plastic pony beads
Ring blanks, bails, hair clips, jump rings
Glue
An oven
Parchment paper
Cookie sheet (with a rim!)
Kitchen timer
A toothpick
Googly eyes, marker, ribbons or cord

Things to do:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Lay parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Fold, push, and cut so that it lays flat.

3. Arrange your beads to make flowers, bunnies or chicks.

a. If you’re making a pendant, set a jump ring under a bead or two, with about half of the ring sticking out.


4. Carefully move the cookie sheet into oven. Turn on the oven light!

5. Set your timer for 4:00 minutes. Make sure the room you are using is well ventilated; turn on a fan and open a door/window.

6. Check your ‘melties’ to ensure nothing rolled out of place. Carefully push them back into shape with a toothpick if you need to. Check that jump rings are still touching beads.

7. Return to oven for 6:00 minutes. Set your timer.
8. Check that the melties are as melty as you want. Add minutes to bake time as you need. By this point you should just stand by and keep an active watch!


9. When everything looks smooth and melted, remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Don’t forget an oven mitt!
10. Let the melties cool completely.
11. Attach your designs to necklaces, hair clips, or ring blanks. Glue on googly eyes if needed. Draw on faces for some personality. String pendants to ribbons or cord. Enjoy!

Peeps! Cards

Peeps are a must in our house during spring. We just can’t go without them! So this year we’re extending out love of Peeps! and sending out cards to friends and family that look like a happy little row of our favorite spring treat! Join in on the fun! Who can resist them?

Things you’ll need:
Pastel cardstock
Peep! Card Template
Brown marker
Scissors

Things to do:
1. Using the template cut a set of bunnies out for each card you want to send from your pastel cardstock.
2. Add brown eyes and nose and fold down the middle of the card.

3. Add a message and send off with your Spring Greetings!

Spring Egg Placecards

Having a Spring Party? Why not add a little color and fun to your table with these cute egg placecards?

Things you’ll need:
Wood egg cups
Craft paint in spring colors
Hard-boiled eggs
Food coloring
Paintbrushes

Things to do:
1. Paint the egg cups with two coats of craft paint, including the inside of the cup. Allow the paint to dry and add polka dots if desired.


2. Using your finest paintbrush, paint on the names of your guests with the food coloring. Allow the food coloring to dry completely before moving.

3. Set the eggs in the cups and you are ready to go!

Koolaid Dyed Ombre Basket

Ombre is everywhere these days, on shirts and bags and skirts and even walls. With its color intense look it’s perfect for bringing a little oomph to a plain old basket. Just the thing for toting those Easter eggs!

Things you’ll need:
Koolaid (bright colors!)
Plastic tub
Wicker basket
Water
Spoon

Things to do:
1. Fill your tub up with enough water to cover the bottom ¼ of the basket and mix in the entire package of Koolaid. Sink the basket in, adding weights if necessary.

2. Once the dye has had about 20 minute to work, add more water, this time bringing the level up to the halfway point on the basket. This will add a second, slightly lighter layer of color to the basket.

3. Allow this layer to soak for 20 minutes as well before topping up a final time, bringing the water level up another ¼ of the way.
4. Soak for 10 minutes at this level and then pull the basket out, setting it on a flat, covered surface to dry. As the basket dries the die will pull down and concentrate slightly more at the bottom of the basket.

Bucket Easter Basket

When I was a little girl, the night before Easter was always punctuated by the frantic searching for the Easter baskets. They were huge, obnoxiously colored things that were tucked out of sight for the rest of the year, and several times we had to make do with napkin baskets or other bins when the old standards just couldn’t be found. When I had children of my own, I decided that I’d rather have something that could pull double duty, handy storage for most of the year, fun basket for Easter morning. After a few tries with different kinds of baskets I settled on small, galvanized buckets a few years ago. Excellent for toting markers, Legos, and other small toys, they’ve been beach buckets, mini picnic baskets and of course, our Easter baskets for several years now. Each spring I decorate the buckets in a different way for Easter, adding ribbons, flowers, bows or whatever else strikes my fancy, for the big day. The only requirement is that nothing is permanent so that the buckets can return to normal once the eggs have all been collected. This year I’m adding paper grass to the baskets for an extra springy look. Using a technique similar to cupcake liners, you can add whatever kind of decoration strikes your fancy to your own buckets!

Thing you’ll need:
Cardstock in spring colors (green in this case)
Scrap paper
Pencil
Scissors
Removable glue dots
Galvanized Pail
Bone folder

Things to do:
1. Wrap your scrap paper around the bottom of the bucket so that the bottom edge is covered (you’ll probably only make it halfway around)


2. With the bone folder, press a crease in the paper along the bottom edge of the bucket. Be sure to hold the paper tightly in place while you do this for an accurate line.

3. Cut along the crease and then check against the bottom of the bucket, making adjustments as needed. Mark at the halfway points on the bucket.
4. Cut up at the halfway points and across as high as you want your decorations to be.
5. Use this as a template and trace onto your cardstock and cut out your base pieces. For the grass, I cut three of light green and one of dark, which was then cut in half.

6. Cut the pieces into whatever shape you want. For grass cut in and out to create the blades, you can also create scallops, waves or random designs. Get creative!


7. Mount the paper along the bottom edge, overlapping to create depth, with the double-sided tape. Add eggs, bunnies or other cutouts to finish the look.

Easter Bunny Flowerpot Wrap

Easter is coming and with it the opportunity for all sorts of bunny related crafts. This little flower pot wrap would be a fantastic project for the kids and is as easy to customize to different sized pots as can be! Imagine a parade of them down the center of your Easter table, filled with spring flowers and greenery.

Things we’ll need:
Craft foam in white, a pale color and an eye color
Scissors
Craft glue
Pots of flowers

Things to do:
1. Measure around the pot to determine the length of the wrap and the height of all but the bunny ears.

2. Cut to create a wrap, leaving a space at the center uncut where the ears will be.
3. Fold in half and cut identical bunny ears out at the center.

4. Cut a small nose and two large circles out of the white, two small circles out of the eye color.
5. Attach the eyes and nose with glue and overlap the flaps to create the wrap. Allow the glue to dry before slipping around the pot of flowers.

Eggshell Candles

During the spring I tend to make a lot of egg-related recipes. It just seems like the season for it. The result is that I often have a lot of empty eggshells heading for the compost heap. Instead of throwing them away, however, I’ve started turning them into votive candles, perfect for a spring table. Try to get into the habit of cracking the eggs at the top of the shell for these, you’ll get more hours of burn from the candles due to a greater depth of wax.

Things you’ll need:
Eggshells
Wax
Candle wicks
Double boiler
Egg cartons
Dowel Rods

Things to do:
1. Rinse each egg in and out with warm water and allow them to dry.

2. Set the wax to melt in the double boiler. If you want to add scent or color, do this now.
3. Cut the wicks into 5-inch sections. Tie one end to a skewer and knot the other end about an inch down. Trim off any excess.
4. Set the eggs into an egg carton and fill each about ½ way up with wax.
5. Lower the wicks into the wax and balance the skewer onto the shell so that the wick in centered in the wax.

6. Allow the wax to cool and then pour about ½ inch more wax into the eggs to fill the void created during cooling.
7. Trim the wicks and set the eggs into small cups. *Hint! – fill the bottom of each cup with rice or grains and nestle the eggs in to help keep them upright.
8. Light and enjoy!