Craft Projects

Quick Mother’s Day Craft

Apparently this week was Teacher Appreciation Week. And this Sunday is the mother of all holidays, Mother’s Day. So I felt it was a good time, even if it is (very) last minute, to create a little something for my daughter’s caretaker at daycare. I mean she does take care of my little nugget like a second mom. And I’m so grateful that Mary Helen is happy to go to “school” everyday while I take care of business creating projects for this here blog, co-hosting Today’s Homeowner TV show, and taping episodes of my web show.

I wanted something that was a tad sentimental and tied into Mary Helen, but not something that her teacher wouldn’t want in her house after Mother’s Day is over. Here’s what we made:

pink paper flowers in glass vase with gold polka dots

It’s a pretty quick project, so you still have time to make one for your mom, sister, gram, or godmother before Sunday!

Materials I used:

  • coffee filters (1-4 cup size, about 20)
  • acrylic paints (gold, pink)
  • wire
  • glass vase
  • plastic container
  • school glue

First, I recruited MH to help me paint the gold polka dots onto the vase. (By the way, I picked up this simple vase from the Dollar Tree for $1.) I poured a little gold paint on a paper plate, dipped her finger in the paint, and created a random dot pattern on the bottom half of the vase. I had to re-dip for every dot, but it still went pretty fast.

7 month old painting gold polka dots on glass vase

As you can imagine, it’s fairly difficult to capture a picture while holding a 7-month old captive. She only lasted a couple of rows of dots before we had to take a break.

gold polka dots painted on small glass vase

But I like that it has her “touch” in a way that’s still cute. When we were done with the dots, I took the tip of a ballpoint pen and dipped it in the paint. Then I wrote her name and the year on the bottom of the vase. (She’s not quite ready to write her own name! Yet! job)

gold name written on bottom of glass vase

It’s way easier to write with a pen then try to do so with a small paint brush!

While the gold paint was drying, I got to work on the flowers. Because what good is a vase without flowers in it! I’ve made paper flowers before out of tissue paper. But this time my medium was coffee filters! Yep!

I shared this post on my Facebook page a few months ago and kept it in the back of mind for later. I used The Bold Abode’s method of dying coffee filters.

Using a large plastic container, I added about an inch of water. Then I poured in some pink acrylic paint.

pouring pink acrylic paint into container of water

Whatever color you want your finished product to be, start with a color much darker. I wanted a pale pink, so I went with this hot pink. Stir it really well and then stir again. When you’re satisfied with your stirring job, dip about 10 coffee filters in at a time, letting them soak for a few seconds.

hand dipping coffee filters in pink paint

At first I was nervous about dipping a flimsy paper product in water, thinking it would disintegrate or become weak and easy to tear. But then I thought about it, and it’s what coffee filters are made for! They get soaked while a pot of coffee is brewing without falling apart. Duh!

I set them on a stack of paper towels when I pulled them out and dabbed as much water out as I could.

pink coffee filters drying on paper towels

Then I did something crazy. I dried the dyed coffee filters in my clothes dryer! I read this as a suggestion on Sweet Pennies from Heaven and decided to give it a try! And it worked! It took less than 10 minutes in 3-minute increments to dry my 20 filters.

Once they were dry, I stacked them in sets of 2 and glued them together with a tiny dot of glue in the middle.

pink dyed coffee filters glued together on counter

To make them into flowers, I folded each set in half like a taco.

pink coffee filter folded in half

Then folded it again.

folding pink coffee filter in half to make paper flowers

I pinched the bottom of the flower, poked a safety pin through followed by some thin wire to hold it together.

jewelry wire poked through bottom of paper flower

(Please excuse my messy hands, I was jumping between these flowers and painting my dining room chairs. More on that next week!)

It’s not modeled after a specific flower, but still looks flowery and dainty.

Coffee Filter Paper Flower

I made a total of 8 flowers. I was shooting for 9 (my favorite number), but messed one up and had to throw it out.

All Flowers with Wire Attached

Once they were all wired, I “arranged” them, twisted the wires together, and set them in the now-dried vase.

Pink Paper Flowers in Gold Polka Dot Vase

The gold polka dots weren’t very visible, so I stuffed some white coffee filters around the wire in the vase. It also helped conceal that silver wire too!

pink paper flowers in glass vase with gold polka dots

And there you have it! A personally impersonal Mother’s Day gift. I like to think the vase could be used to decorate a bookshelf (with or without the paper flowers) beyond Mother’s Day. Of course that may be because I’m currently obsessed with anything gold right now! Maybe I should get Mary Helen to help me make another one for myself. 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommas out there! I know I’m excited to celebrate my first one!

Thanks for Checking In! ~ Chelsea

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