Making a Homemade Mother's Day Gift

You have surely heard that homemade gifts are the sure fire way to go on Mother's Day, and your right. Every mom loves the idea of you and your children taking the time to come up with a unique and thoughtful way of saying how much you love them. If your children are young however it may be difficult to find a project that is "do-able." Perhaps if your children aren't young you find that they (or you) are not the craft type, or maybe you are in need of a quick present for Mother's Day. Rest assured that there are easy crafts that show the same amount of love as the big projects. This end result of this craft will be a beautiful tissue paper flower bouquet, perfect for little hands and/or the quick crafter.

For this craft you will need:

-6 pieces of tissue paper for every 2 flowers you plan to make, so if you plan to make 12 flowers you would need 36 pieces of tissue paper (you have many options here, you can make all of the flowers the same color, each flower its own color, or pick her favorite colors and mix them together)

-1 green pipe cleaner per flower you plan to make

-scissors

-her favorite perfume or scent

-a thick ribbon, about 18 inches long, and/or a vase (optional)

First you are going to put 6 pieces of tissue paper into a stack (all one color, or alternate colors for a more vibrant look), one on top of the other so they are even and then cut the stack in half widthwise (image A). Keep each stack separate.

Next, take your first stack of tissue paper and fold it like an accordion or paper fan (image B). Lay your pipe cleaner down and place the middle of your folded tissue paper in the middle of the pipe cleaner. Then bend the top of the pipe cleaner down over the folded tissue paper (image C) and twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner together firmly. This is now your flowers stem.

Now hold the flower up by the pipe cleaner and starting with the top piece of folded tissue paper, carefully pull it up and slightly out on each side. Keep doing this with each layer of tissue paper until you have done them all. If there is a gap where the sides of the flower meet, gently pull each edge of tissue paper and place it in front of the edge on the opposite side.

Repeat the above stated process with each stack of tissue paper until you have the desired amount of flowers. Now bunch the flowers together and lightly (make sure to spray from a distance as you only want to mist the flowers, spraying to closely will make the tissue paper too wet and leave marks) spray them with her favorite perfume or scent. As a last and optional step, you can tie a ribbon around the bunch of flowers for a nice presentation or place them in a vase.

You now have a beautiful homemade Mother's Day gift sure to please any mom. After all, what mother doesn't like to receive flowers on her special day? Making the bouquet yourself will show her that you appreciate her time and efforts by taking some time yourself to craft them instead of just picking up some flowers at the local market. One last piece of advice from a mother who loves homemade Mother's Day gifts is this- we don't care how much money you spend on the present, its how much love was used to create it.