Make a Mother's Day Card

Here's an idea for a fun and easy Mother's Day card that the kids will love to make, and they can personalise too!

It's a pretty Mother's Day flower idea that's perfect for spring, and is easily adapted to different colours, so children will enjoy getting creative!

You will need:

• Card base - your choice of colour and size
• Tissue paper - readily available in craft and high street stores, so why not choose mum's favourite colour? Or be eco-friendly and recycle some packaging, like we did for these cards!
• Scissors
• Glitter
• Glues - white glue (PVA) for glittering, also a stick glue (eg Pritt)
• Buttons or sticky gems - for flower centres
• Green paper or ribbon - perfect for flower stems and leaves
• Felt pen to add a greeting, or why not use a sticker?

What you do:

1. Begin by cutting out plenty of tissue paper circles. You'll need around 6-10 for each flower depending how 'fluffy' you want it to be. Bigger flowers usually need more layers, and small flowers don't have so many. The more circle layers you use, the more fluffed up the petals will be in your flower!

   Your circles do not need to be perfect - in fact a rough circle is ideal, so once you have one, then use it as a rough template for the others. Some circles will end up a bit smaller than others but that's ok. You can layer the smaller ones on top of bigger ones when we make the flower.

   TIP: A clever tip to cut a rough circle is to gently fold a square of paper in half, then half again so you have quarters, and then in half again (eighths). Now cut to create a wedge shape and when you unfold the tissue you have a rough circle!

2. Now get ready to add the glitter to the edges of your circles. Start by folding a piece of scrap paper in half and put a bit of glitter in the fold. Put it carefully to one side so it will be ready in a minute.

   We need to add the glue to the petals so do this by putting a tiny bit of white glue (PVA) in the middle of a paper plate or scrap of card. You can 'roll' the edges of your circle in the glue. Don't make the puddle of glue too deep for your petal, but just enough so that a very tiny bit of glue sticks to some of the edges of the tissue petal circle.

3. By getting your glitter ready beforehand, you're all set to dip the edges with glue in the puddle of glitter. So do the same action of 'rolling' the circle into the glitter and the glue will pick up plenty of sparkle. Gently tap the middle of your petal circle over the paper to shake off any excess glitter and leave your petal to dry.

   Do this for all of your tissue paper petal circles - rolling them in the glue, then rolling them in the glitter, then leave them all to dry for a few minutes.

   

4. While the petals and glitter are drying, make your card base and cut out any leaves or stems you want to add from green paper or ribbon. Now you'll be ready to build your flower! Here's how...

   Start with a large glittered circle and gently - not too firmly - scrunch the tissue to get a wavy effect to the petal. Add a bit of glue in the middle and do the same for your next circle... scrunch and layer.... glue, scrunch and layer... Carry on layering up your petal circles until you've made your flower!

5. Now just add the finishing touch with a button or sparkly gem in the middle of the flower. Fix it firmly with a tiny dab of white glue. You could choose to cut a small circle of yellow card instead.

6. Stick all the pieces onto your card front, watching your flower, stem and leaves grow as you stick the parts in place. Finish off your card with a hand-written greeting to mum, or a sticker.