Mother?s Day Crafts

Make these quick and easy crafts with your children for Mother's day. These can be handmade for Mom or Grandma!

Flower Pens for Mom

Is your mom always looking for a pen around the house, and can't find one? Well make this pen and she'll spot it right away!

What You'll Need

? Bic Pen (ball point)

? silk flower

? floral foam

? low temp hot glue gun

? floral tape

? paint or markers

? small notepaper or Post-It pads

? small to medium sized terra cotta pot

How To Do It

Note: Adult supervision is needed when using a glue gun.

1. Start by decorating the flower pot. Have the child be creative! They can use colorful designs or patterns. Have them use paint or markers. Let dry while you move on to the next step.

2. Remove the cover from the pen and set aside.

3. Choose a nice big silk flower ? sunflowers and carnations work well! Pop the silk flower off of its stem. Put a dab of glue on the end of the pen, and push the flower on to the end, right into the glue. Hold in place for about 30 seconds to secure.

4. Use floral tape to wrap over the seam of the flower and the end of the pen. Continue wrapping all the way down to the tip. The floral tape will adhere better if you give it a slight tug as you are pulling it.

5. After the pot is dry, add a small piece of floral foam to the center of the pot (about 2"x2"), securing it with the glue gun. Then add a small dab of glue to the pen cover and push into center of foam.

6. Slide the pen into the cover, and surround with a few pieces of paper or post it note pads.

Fingerprint Flower Frame

This is a memorable keepsake for mom. She will show it off with pride!

What You'll Need

? 4 large wooden craft sticks

? washable paints

? markers

? white glue

? magnet strip

? picture of child

How To Do It

1. Start by laying out the 4 wooden craft sticks. Arrange them to form the frame and glue together.

2. Paint the child's fingertip, and then press onto the craft stick to form a fingerprint. Repeat this several times, alternating colors if you wish. Make sure to leave enough space in between each fingerprint to embellish the flowers with petals, etc.

3. Have the child write a message to mom on part of the sticks if desired!

4. Wash hands and let sticks dry.

5. When the craft sticks are dry, have the child use markers to decorate the fingerprints. Add petals, stems and leaves. Be sure to leave at least one fingerprint to make a friendly creature like a butterfly or ladybug!

6. Add your child's name and date to the back of the frame.

7. Adhere the picture to the back of the frame and add a piece of magnetic strip so mom can hang on the fridge!

Pam Lester is the owner and creator of http://www.TheIdeaBox.com. The site offers free kids crafts, recipes, games and activities for parents, teachers and caregivers. Please visit TheIdeaBox.com for more great ideas!

In The News:

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President-elect Barack Obama speaks about the economy, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.



Vice President Dick Cheney pauses during an interview with the Associated Press at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009 in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)AP - Vice President Dick Cheney says that his boss, President George W. Bush, has no need to apologize to the American people for not doing more to head off the financial calamity, saying no one saw the crisis coming.



Palestinian relatives of a father and four of his sons from the Khalout family who were killed in an Israeli army operation, react in the family house during their funeral in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. The U.N. halted deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after gunfire from an Israeli tank killed an aid truck driver, and the international Red Cross said it would restrict activities after one of its drivers was injured in a similar incident. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)AP - The U.N. suspended aid shipments in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and the Red Cross restricted its convoys after their trucks came under Israeli fire. The threat of a wider conflict arose when militants in Lebanon fired two rockets into northern Israel.



President-elect Barack Obama speaks about the economy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.,  Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - President-elect Barack Obama implored Congress to "act boldly and act now" on Thursday to fix an economy growing perilously weaker, and leading lawmakers set an informal goal of mid-February for enacting tax cuts and government spending that could cost as much as $1 trillion.



U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris is sworn in before testifying during the Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing at the Illinois State Capitol Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris said Thursday he's never been involved in an improper deal in his two decades in government and didn't strike any agreement to become embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pick for the U.S. Senate.



In this Jan. 5, 2009 file photo, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)AP - The many Bernard Madoff investors who withdrew money from their accounts over the years are now wrestling with an ethical and legal quandary.



AP - It is perhaps the most intriguing unsolved mystery from the gaudy gangland career of John Gotti: Whatever happened to the neighbor who accidentally ran over and killed the mobster's 12-year-old son — and then vanished?

In this image released by ABC, actor Tom Cruise, third left, poses with the hosts of the ABC daytime show 'The View,' from left, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck during a taping, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, at ABC Studios in New York. The interview will air on Friday, Jan. 9. (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute)AP - "Horrific" is how Tom Cruise described the sudden death of the son of his friend, John Travolta. Cruise struggled to maintain his composure as he spoke on "The View" about last week's death of 16-year-old Jett Travolta. "John just adored him, both of his children," Cruise said haltingly. "... It's something that I don't have the words for."



AP - Police in upstate New York say a man has been sprinkling roofing nails on the driveways of people he didn't like to cause flat tires for two years. Stony Point police Lt. Peter Quinn said Michael Delisio was arrested Tuesday after an officer staking out one victim's home saw nails being thrown from Delisio's car.

In this April 27, 2008 file photo, Atlanta Braves' John Smoltz delivers a pitch in the second inning against the New York Mets in their baseball game at Shea Stadium in New York. Smoltz has reached a preliminary agreement on a contract with the Boston Red Sox, a stunning end to his long career with the Atlanta Braves. The deal was expected to be finalized later Thursday Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)AP - After more than two decades with the Atlanta Braves, John Smoltz is ready to finish his stellar career wearing a different uniform. In a stunning end to one of baseball's longest runs, Smoltz reached a preliminary agreement Thursday on a $5.5 million, one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox after failing to work out a deal to return for his 22nd season with the Braves.



President-elect Barack Obama at a news conference in Chicago, December 7, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama warned on Thursday that the U.S. economy could stay mired in recession for years without bold action and he urged lawmakers to work day and night to pass a massive stimulus plan.



People taking the Long Island Foreclosure Tour arrive at a foreclosed home for sale in New Hyde Park, New York in this May 17, 2008 file photo. Citigroup could soon agree to principles that would let troubled borrowers save their homes through bankruptcy, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, while industry groups are easing their opposition to the plan. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc has agreed to support a controversial rewrite of U.S. bankruptcy law aimed at helping troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, lawmakers said on Thursday.



Egyptian citizens look at rising smoke during Israeli strikes at the Gaza Strip, in the Egyptian border city of Rafah January 7, 2009. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)Reuters - Recovery teams ventured into battlegrounds of the Gaza Strip on Thursday to gather bodies from the rubble, and Hamas officials said the Palestinian toll in Israel's 13 day-old offensive rose to 765 dead.



A customer shops at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas, June 5, 2008. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other top U.S. retailers delivered disappointing December same-store sales and profit warnings on Thursday, sparking fresh recession concerns that hit stock and currency markets.



Bernard Madoff is escorted from Federal Court in New York January 5, 2009. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)Reuters - Accused swindler Bernard Madoff had signed checks totaling more than $173 million in his office desk ready to be sent out before his arrest, U.S. prosecutors said in court papers on Thursday asking a judge to jail him.



A man works near a pressure gauge at a district heating plant in Skopje January 8, 2009. (Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters)Reuters - Europe on Friday looked for a swift restoration of gas supplies, after striking a deal with Moscow on monitoring gas shipments via Ukraine that have been halted by a rancorous pricing dispute with Kiev.



Reuters - The U.S. nuclear deterrent that kept a tense peace during the Cold War is in danger of losing credibility among allied nations that look to the United States for security, a Pentagon panel said on Thursday.

People walk past the Bank of England in central London, January 8, 2009. (Rob Bodman/Reuters)Reuters - Economic weakness in Europe worsened and U.S. jobless rolls swelled as disappointing sales from Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and other retailers on Thursday showed that consumers are still wary about opening up their pocketbooks in an uncertain economy.



A wounded Palestinian is carried into Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital. The main UN Palestinian relief agency halted work in Gaza on Thursday after a driver was killed and the death toll from Israel's war on Hamas rose to more than 760 after dozens of bodies were found in the rubble.(AFP/Yassr Saymeh)AFP - A UN relief agency halted work in Gaza and protested to Israel on Thursday after an aid worker was killed, while the war death toll rose past 760 after dozens of bodies were found in rubble during a pause in bombing.



A man warms himself near a stove in a bar in the town of Belovo, Bulgaria. EU-sponsored talks collapsed Thursday between Russia and Ukraine on resolving a gas dispute that has cut supplies to Europe in the midst of a bitterly cold winter, with Moscow blamed for the failure.(AFP/Boryana Katsarova)AFP - EU-sponsored talks collapsed Thursday between Russia and Ukraine on resolving a gas dispute that has cut supplies to Europe in the midst of a bitterly cold winter, with Moscow blamed for the failure.




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