Crafting with Kara- Cardboard Tube Flowers

We finally had the chance with Kara's busy schedule to fit in another installment of Crafting with Kara. This week she thought it would be fun to try a craft she saw in the March issue of Family Fun.  Using just a few supplies, she made vase filled with spring flowers.

The supplies you will need to make this craft are; one toilet paper tube per flower, and an extra tube if you want to make leaves, paint, bamboo skewers, and tissue paper.

Paint the tubes in your desired flower  colors.  If making leaves, paint one of the tubes green 

 Both the inside and the outside of the tubes need to be painted. We found it to be easier to paint the inside after cutting it.  Paint the skewers green, these will be the stems. 

Mark off the center inch of the tube 

Mom helped with this step.  Cut slits up to the mark off point on both sides of the tube. There should be about 1 inch of tube left uncut. 

Once the tube was cut, it was easier to reach inside the tube.  She also painted all of the petals on both sides of the tube. 

To make the leaves, flatten the green tube, and cut into strips. 

Once all the flowers are dry, stuff the centers with different colors of tissue paper. 

Using a push pin, make a small hole. (this is another step that might need to be done by the parent) 

Insert the pointed end of the skewer into the hole.  You might use a little bit of glue to keep it in place, but we did not have to. 

Because of the vase Kara decided to use, we did not add the leaves this time.

We found the pretty purple vase at the dollar store.  They sold other colors like pink, yellow and blue as well.   One thing that I love about these flowers is they will stay pretty a lot longer than real ones. They would make a nice Mother's Day gift or just a spring decor pick me up.