Mother's Day Photo Flower Bouquet Craft

Make a personalized gift for Mother's Day your mom can display at home or her office and show off her great family. Photo bouquets are easy home-made crafts perfect for spring holidays like Mother's Day. A twist on the decorated family tree, photo flower bouquets look great framed on the wall or stuck on the fridge for everyone to enjoy.

First, decide which photos you want to include in your Mother's Day photo flowers. Include a few photos of mom and dad as children, baby photos of your children, and at least one current family photo. You should then include some fun candid photos of favorite family memories with mom. Another way to do the photo flower bouquet is to make a "bouquet" of the family. Use one photo of each child and adult in the family so that each person is their own flower. For example, children making a photo flower bouquet for a single mother of three children would make four photo flowers: one with a good portrait of mom and one for each of the children's school photos. Sketch out the different designs and decide which photo flower bouquet would work best for your Mother's Day craft gift.

When you have decided on the photos to include in your Mother's Day gift, have copies made with a scanner and photo printer. If you do not have access to these tools, take the original prints to a photo developer where they can scan and print them for you. Use this time to crop the photos so the faces are all about the same size.

Start with a large sheet of construction paper in a solid color. Provide extra construction paper, chenille straws or pipe cleaners, cloth scraps, buttons, and patterned craft paper for your children to make their Mothers Day photo craft. Scatter out the photos of mom and family. Draw a quick sketch of where each flower blossoms should be on the paper to make sure each photos will be easy to see. Using the sketch, let children draw and decorate their flower bouquets on the craft paper.

Help them cut out flower shapes like petals and leaves from construction paper and glue in the right places on the craft paper. Use paper or pipe cleaners to make the flower stems. Using other materials can add texture to the photo flower bouquet. Remember, photos will go in the center of each flower, so do not worry about filling those in.

When the flowers all look the way your child wants them to, begin filling in the photos for the centers. Trace a circle around the face of the person in the photo or around the most important part of the candid photos. Cut out the circles and glue them in the center of the flowers on the craft paper.

Use a glitter glue pen to outline the photos in the flower center and add small touches to the stems and leaves. Using just a little glitter can be very effective, but too much will lose the effect.

When the Mother's Day photo flower gifts have dried completely, place them in a simple frame to protect the designs. You may have to trim the edges of the craft paper to make it fit. An 8x10 frame usually works best and cast be purchased for less than $10 in a simple, classic style. Framing this Mother's Day craft allows your mom to hang it on the wall or in her office at work without worrying about damaging the front.

To do this craft in a school or church classroom, request that children bring in photos before class begins. You can take them to a photo shop or have a scanner and printer available to make copies of the photos. Ask for help from dad, grandparents or older siblings so the Mother's Day gift stays a surprise for mom. Be sure to save all the original photos to return home with the children or students after the craft is complete.