A Perfect Gift for Any Occasion...Candy Flowers

Flowers and candy make popular gifts for Valentines' Day, an anniversary, Mother's Day, a birthday, and just about any other occasion. For a unique variation on the flowers and candy tradition, try this craft project. This article will teach you how to make your own bouquet of beautiful and delicious candy flowers.

Materials needed to make all three types of flowers:
Bamboo skewers (wooden sticks)
Sheets of craft foam (any color you choose)
Green paint
Candy (I used cinnamon hearts, large conversation hearts, and Hershey's chocolate kisses but you can use any candies you'd like)
Tape
Saran wrap
Decorator's moss
Small flower vase (or other container to hold flowers)
Craft glue

Paint the flower stems:
To make the stems for your candy flowers, cover the wooden skewers with green paint. Lay the stems aside to dry while you make the flower heads. If you're using acrylic paint they should be completely dry in about 15 minutes.

Craft the flowers:
Five-petal candy flower-- On a sheet of craft foam, draw the shape of a five-petal flower with rounded tips. Cut out the shape. Tape a conversation heart to each petal. On the backside of the candy flower, attach the flower stem with tape.

Bud cluster-- To make this flower begin with a small piece of Saran wrap. Lay out the Saran wrap and place a handful of cinnamon hearts in the center. Gather the edges of the plastic wrap and twist until tight. Secure the end of the plastic with a piece of tape. Attach the flower stem to backside of the candy flower.

Flower blossom-- On a sheet of craft foam, draw two four-petal flowers with pointed tips. Cut out both shapes. Stack them on top of each other with the petals unaligned and attach in the center with craft glue. To connect the stem to the flower blossom, poke the skewer through the center of the flower and pull through. On the underside of the flower, tape the stem in place. Now tape a Hershey's chocolate kiss in the middle of the blossom.

Present the flowers:
Prepare the flower vase by filling it with decorator's moss. To arrange the bouquet of candy flowers in the vase, simply poke the wooden stems into the moss. Within less than hour, you will have created an original bouquet of candy flowers your loved one will be able to eat and enjoy!!