May flowers…

We certainly have had enough rain to result in some beautiful May flowers. Today I am talking about flowers made from paper. I was getting ready to toss my empty egg carton in the recycling the other day, when my youngest daughter asked if we could do a craft. Egg carton…craft…why not?! Here’s what we did.

egg carton (paper kind)

paints

paint brush

assorted beads

glue gun

cereal box (empty)

green construction paper

scissors

glue stick

string

1. dismantle the egg carton; cut the lid off, cut the egg holder side into individual sections

2. with each individual section, cut 2/3 of the way down the sides in four spots

3. fold the “petals” down, creating 4 petals

4. load up a plate as your artist palette

5. paint the flower as you like, set aside to dry

6. heat up glue gun

7. put a drop of glue inside the flower, place selected bead into the glue

8. to make the base, where you will adhere your flowers, take the cereal box and cut out the shape of base you would like, we made an oval

9. trace this shape onto the green construction paper, cut out the construction paper and adhere the construction paper to the cereal box cut out…base is done

10. when all flowers are dry and base is complete, using glue gun adhere flowers to the base

11. poke a hole in the top of your base and feed string (or ribbon, or pipe cleaner) through the hole

12. hang your flower display on your front door for all to see!

This is a great project to complete over the course of a day or two. Because the flowers need to dry between stages, you can walk away from the project and pick it up at another time. I love these type of projects, since they allow the kids to really think about what they want to do. Our door is now adorned with a beautiful arrangement of May flowers! Enjoy!

P.S. Meatless week is moving right along! Thanks to my friend Elise, we enjoyed the Epicurious recipe for Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard…delish.