Mother's Day

Once again, it is time to wish all and sundry a Happy Mother's Day. This year not only am I an actual Momma but I'm also a God Momma. I have some really fantastic memories of going to pick wild flowers with my parents for our grandmothers and God Mothers for Mother's Day. This year I have some beautiful paper flowers my daughter (Miss E) made in art class and some really wonderful pinwheels she made in Girl Scouts.


I had the great privilege to help Miss E's Class make some tissue paper flowers for their moms. It was a little chaotic and (for some) frustrating, but fun. I have to remember the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid) motto when working with a large group of kids.


Here is our finished product.




Here's what you need (all of which can be found at the dollar tree):

Green Pipe cleaners

Tissue Paper (I used brights and pastels)

And basics: (Scissors, ruler and pencil.)



Start by making two piles of 5 sheets of tissue paper. you can be as creative or not as you want with color combinations. I had some kids decide to do multi-color flowers and other kids choose to do mono-color flowers. It really just depends on who you are making them for. Arrange your two piles as neatly as you can. I lined up one corner of each sheet in the pile. That helped them to be more tidy. Once the two stacks of 5 sheets of tissue paper are as tidy as you can get them you are going to fan fold (aka accordion fold) the who stack together. It doesn't need to be a super tight fold; this is mostly so cutting is easier.

Time to measure. For one of the two now folded stacks fold it in half end to end and cut it in half on the fold. For the other folded stack measure two sections of 7.5 in and you should have one 5 inch section left. I had the kids draw a line all the way down from their marks as a cutting guide. Cut on the lines. You should now have 5 sections of folded tissue paper.



(I left this step out when I did this with Miss E's class. I thought it would be a little confusing.) Before you attach the pipe cleaners you can adjust the width or tightness of your fan fold. different fold widths produce different looks for the flowers.



Refolded and ready for pipe cleaners 

When you are happy with your fold widths fold each section in half end to end. Insert the pipe cleaner into the fold. Then fold it over the top so that it is longer than the width of your paper. Twist the two ends together (Confused? I have pictures 😀) You will want to cinch it pretty tight around your paper to make the last step a bit easier.


Folded over the top


Twisted

Next decide what shape you want for the petals. I have the options with a finished product pictured below. Cut both ends the same way so you don't get a funky looking flower. If you are working with younger children it's okay if you skip this step.


Triangle


Inverted Triangle


Circle


Inverted Circle


Fringe

Now that you have the pipe cleaners attached and the ends trimmed to the shape you want it's time to make the flower appear. Starting with one side of the flower, open the fan. Insert the thumb of your left hand under the top layer of tissue paper. Holding the bottom four layers with your left hand use your right hand to bring the top layer up as far as you can. You have to be firm but gentle at the same time. you are going to work all the way around the flower pulling the top layer up as far as you can. Repeat this for each layer of tissue paper. Voila! You have a flower! It was really cool to see how the flowers for the kids turned out. Some of them looked tie-dyed. I've made them before with patterned paper. They turned out pretty nice too.


Fan out one side


Insert your thumb between layers


Keep working around the flower


All done