Tissue Paper Flowers, Vase and Greeting Card

Being surrounded by awesome bloggers who are also awesome women, cooks, athletes, musicians and mothers is something I love about blogging, but today you get to experience some of the awesome I know. My friend Gina, from Special Happens, generously sharing a fun activity you and your kiddos are sure to enjoy here on Evolving Mommy. I love that this craft requires tearing up tissue paper, what kid doesn’t love tearing up paper?Thanks for sharing your creative fun with us Gina!

Now go get a little messy and create adorable flowers, a vase and maybe even a greeting card if you want.

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Need to add a little something fun to the mix?  Here’s a quick, fun project you can do with things you likely have around the house.

What You’re Making:

Tissue paper flowers and vase.  Greeting card if wanted.

What You Need:

•   Newspaper or something to cover a workspace with; garbage bags do well too.
•   Tape
•   Glue or Modge Podge if you have it
•   Scissors
•   Tissue paper, colored is great
•   Pipe cleaners (pencils or something like this can replace the pipe cleaners)
•   An empty container of some kind that you no longer want (glass, plastic bottle, coffee creamer jar)
•   Any other adornments if you want (stickers, glue-able fixtures)
•   Plain paper (for greeting card)
•   Plastic cup or other small container for glue
•   Sponge brush or even wadded up paper towel if your child has tactile sensitivities
•   Craft cover-up (old shirt, etc)

What To Do:

1. Cover your work space with newspaper.  Tape down the edges especially if your child may have a tendency to play with it.

2. Get out the tissue paper.  Helping to select colors you already know he likes will be helpful and take out unnecessary overwhelming factors from the choices.

3. Make a mess.  You and your child can start ripping up the tissue paper is smaller pieces.  Not tiny, say 3 x 3 pieces.  Mix up the colors.  Don’t worry about perfect ripping, just rip away.

4. After pouring some glue in one of the smaller disposable containers (plastic cup), demonstrate getting glue on your fingers (or modge podge) and glue the pieces of paper on the larger empty container.  You’ll want to put the paper on the container and spread the glue on it, smoothing out the edges.  If it bunches, don’t worry; it’s not meant to be perfectly smooth.  If your child has tactile sensitivities, this can easily be done with a brush or some other applicator so he doesn’t get it on his hands.

5. Continue adding paper, many overlapping until the entire container is covered.  Glue on any other adornments that you and your child may want.

6. Place your new vase aside to dry, have fun peeling the glue from your fingers or immediately wash off.  Clean up your newspapers to prevent from getting any rogue glue on you or your flowers.

7. IF YOU’RE DOING A GREETING CARD: Take some of the left over tissue scraps and glue them onto one side of the paper.  No pattern necessary unless that’s what your child wants.  Glue any other adornments to it; set it aside to dry.

8. Take chosen colored tissue, rip this in half then fold a half width-wise, continuing until it’s about 1-2 inches wide.  Now fold this length-wise two times.

9. While your child holds this, take the pipe cleaner, place it in the center of your tissue and wrap the top 2 inches of the pipe cleaner around the tissue, leaving a large length of the pipe cleaner as the stem.  Pull the pip cleaner tight around the tissue to hold the tissue in place. (If your substituting something else for the pipe cleaner, you’ll have to tape the center of the tissue and then affix it to the pencil or other substitute with more tape).

10. Now pinch the tissue into a “V” shape around the pipe cleaner that’s holding it; find the folded ends of the tissue and cut these to take away the fold, opening more layers of the tissue.

11. Spread or fluff out the layers of the tissue…like opening the bloom of a flower.

12. Repeat until you have the amount of flowers you desire.

To Finish:

•   When your vase is dry, place your flowers in.  Add ribbon or other on the outside to further adorn your vase.

•   For the greeting card: help your child put a message on a separate piece of paper.  Glue or tape this to the opposite side of the paper that has been adorned with tissue.  Fold the paper in half, with the message inside of the fold, design outside.

You’re done!

Remember:

•   Patience is key.
•   Plan on doing a lot of this yourself.
•   Plan on getting messy
•   HAVE FUN!

Gina St. Aubin is a wife and mother of 3, one diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder and Developmental Delays, and is a former Victim’s Advocate now advocating for those with intellectual and physical challenges on her site, Special Happens.