A Crafty Conclusion

This is a story of a happy little craft that was relatively painless to make and resulted in a very pretty flower arrangement that perhaps will adorn our table at Easter.  But in order to fully understand how these flowers rose from the ashes of crafty destruction, you'll have to go back one post (or click here) and read about their humble beginnings.  Plus, you won't know how to make the egg-shaped paint sample cutouts without it!  Well, here's the brief version: get some paint swatches at Sherwin Williams and cut them into egg shapes.  Rocket science.

So now that you're caught up, here is part 2 to that craft's thankless end.  How I turned that mess into something rather pretty.

Materials:

* Thin wooden dowels

* craft sticks (aka clean popsicle sticks)

* green paint

* glue

* scissors

* something flower box-like

Explanation:

Once I realized my garland wasn't going to work out (It's not you, it's me), JDubbs and I brainstormed an easy alternative craft.  JDubbs helped because he knew otherwise I would never let him go to sleep until I had thought of something on my own.  We spent a few minutes looking at those godforsaken little eggs

and figured I could arrange them in groups of five to make flowers.  Love it.

And, it just so happened, that Daddy took Jax to Home Depot for their free kids workshop (see my 365 Project for photos) and they had built me a planter/flower box.  I was actually using it to store my discarded eggs in when it hit me that I could use that as my flowers' home.  The only question was how to get them to stand up.  I needed something that I could disguise as grass but would also hold up my flowers.  We just so happened to have some styrofoam laying around from our bathroom remodel, so I shoved some in there and painted it green.  I plan on covering it up with some of that fake Easter grass when I get to the store next to buy some.

Then I painted two wooden dowels and two craft popsicle sticks green as well.

This was the only part that Jax participated in.  I got too stressed out with him and the glue, although interestingly I have no problem letting him paint.  Because I'm such a crafting professional (or something).

He did get paint on some of the few remaining pink eggs.  That's when I kindly asked him to go watch Word World so Mommy could finish up the craft that wouldn't die. 

Okay, finally.  The good stuff.  Group your eggs into arrangements of five to look like flowers.  I stayed in the same general color scheme, but you can do what you like.

 Then you glue the clusters together.  I cut out a small green circle and glued them all to that.

Hmmm...I wonder if she used a template or if she just eye-balled those eggs.  Hard to tell...

They're so symmetrical...

Then I glued my flower cluster to the dowel and/or popsicle stick, added leaves, and a colorful center. 

 

Behold!

My egg garland rejects have morphed into beautiful flowers!

 

Considering I was about to throw those stupid eggs in the fireplace, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.   I will freely admit that Jax's flower planter really is the icing on the cake.  And the kids like them, too!  Jax loved "smelling" them and shared one with his sister.

So there's another lesson to be learned within this crafty catastrophe.  You can be creative and create beautiful things, even if you do have to wing it.  And whether they're perfect or not, you're kids will think they are, and isn't that who you're doing this for, anyway?  I actually like my flowers better than the egg garland, anyway.

And if you're doing this for yourself and are capable of creating something awesome, you're definitely more talented than me so we wouldn't even be having this conversation anyway.  Good for you.  And really, good for me, too.