Flower Pot Pens

I have to tell you about the great Mother’s Day gifts that my daughter and I made this year! I actually got the idea when I was visiting some co-workers who had moved their offices to a new building. Scattered around on desks and tables were cute little pots of silk flowers, and on closer look, I saw that each flower was actually a pen! My co-workers told me that these cute crafts were actually made by the individuals who live at one of the homes that our agency operates (we provide services for individuals with developmental disabilities).

Anyway, I thought this was so adorable, that I decided to make these for Mother’s Day gifts this year. This was a pretty, yet functional gift -- easy to make, inexpensive, and everyone we gave them to seemed to really enjoy them!

All you need to make this craft is:

- Silk flowers (I used 10 per pot)
- Green florist tape
- Glass “stones”
- Small pots or buckets (I used 4” pots which worked well!)
- Ballpoint pens (I used 10 per pot)

I went to the dollar store and purchased the silk flowers ($1 per bunch), green florist tape ($1 per roll -- I bought 3 rolls, but 1 roll was more than I needed for 4 of these pots), and bags of glass stones ($1 per bag). I bought the pots at my local garden store for $ .99 a piece – you may be able to find them cheaper – and I bought a 2 boxes of 20 pens for $1.99 each (again, you may find these cheaper).

Now, my intention was for my daughter and I to do this project together, but I ran out of time, so she helped a little, but I did the majority. My girl took the pots and filled them with half a bag of the glass stones (pebbles, marbles, whatever!). I cut the flowers off of their stems – leaving about 2 inches of stem on each flower “head.” Then I put the flower at the bottom of the pen (end opposite the cap) and I used the florist tape and wrapped it around and around, adhering the flower stem to the pen, and completely covering the pen with the green tape (leaving the tip uncovered and the pen cap off). Then I just put about 10 of these “flower pens” into the pot with the glass pebbles and voila! Very cute gift!

Now, if your child is having a hard time wrapping the tape around the pens and you want another way to get them involved in the project, how about having them decorate the pot itself? If we had had more time, I would have loved to have my girl paint the pots -- I think that would have looked great!

I wasn’t really looking to spend such a small amount on gifts this year – I just thought this was such a cute idea, practical, useful, and it won’t die it a few days (like real flowers -- not that they aren't beautiful!)! But as a bonus, the whole thing probably cost me about $4 for each! And my girls just loved them – my little one watched and kept saying, “Fower, peas!” (She’s working on her words!) And my older daughter wants us to make some to send to both of their Godmothers.

This worked out great for us for Mother’s Day, but I also thought it would make a GREAT teacher’s gift!!

Maybe She IS Listening!

Cleaning out my daughter's "take home" folder from school today, I found this week's packet of First Grade Word Work. One of the things they do each week at school is they have to write different words out 6 times and then use them in a "super sentence." One of this week's words was "minute" and the super sentence? "One minute of pashants (patience) please." Alright! So she does hear some of what I say! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

On this very special day, I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite things about being a mother... My two wonderful girls!

I wish you all a lovely day, enjoying your favorite reasons for celebrating Mother's Day!

A Kid at Heart

Ok, so all day yesterday I was in panic mode over all of the things that I needed to do to get ready for the busy (but fun-filled!) weekend we have planned. Last night my daughter had dance class, tonight we are going out for a Mother's Day dinner with my mother, tomorrow my husband and I are going on an all-day wine tour with two other couples that we are good friends with, our daughter has a birthday party to go to (Grandpa and Gramby are watching the kids and taking our girl to her party), and then everyone is coming back to our house for a bbq tomorrow night! And then we have a bbq for Mother's Day on Sunday, at my uncle's house. And I needed to get errands done, Mother's Day gifts made (they are cute! I'll show you after I give them out!), oh, yeah, and the house cleaned!!

So, last night after we put the kids to bed and my husband went to his hockey game, I went downstairs to start cleaning up the family room -- and what did I do instead? I played with my daughter's Loving Family dollhouse! I couldn't help myself!! It's an adorable dollhouse and she has rooms full of beautiful furniture for it -- and yet, it looks like something out of the '70's tv show "Sanford and Son" -- just a mish-mash of pieces from Barbie, Polly Pockets, Lincoln Logs -- you name it! It looks like the Loving Family is having a chaotic estate sale. Anyway, I thought, "I'll just pick up a little." Uh huh. An hour later, I'm sitting on her little, tiny Little Tykes desk chair, in front of the dollhouse, painstakingly arranging the furniture, setting the dining room table -- I even set up the dog's house and an off-site campground with the tent, firepit, sleeping bags... She never lets me do that when we are playing!

I did finally get a grip and pulled myself away long enough to get half of my Mother's Day crafts together (this was supposed to be a joint effort with my girlie, but we ran out of time!).

So that left today to get the house cleaned -- no problem! I was cruising along, being fairly efficient (except when my father called to check in and I was rearranging the books on the bookshelf -- a real necessity when you are having a bbq!), until I got to my daughter's room. My little one was napping in her room, her sister was at school, and so I went in to clean her room. Well, of course, she's got her big Barbie house in there... Yep, again -- about 30 minutes sitting in front of that, arranging the kitchen, the grand piano, flower vase on the coffee table, toothbrush and towel in the bathroom...

And now I'm here writing about it on my blog! What is the matter with me? Ok, break's over -- back to cleaning!

An Afternoon of Culture

As I mentioned in a previous post, my daughter and I were fortunate enough to be invited to attend the ballet this past weekend. We went with my daughter’s friend and her mother, who I have become friendly with (through our daughters’ dance class last year and now through school activities). They had 4 free tickets to see the Rochester City Ballet’s performance of “Cinderella” and were thoughtful enough to invite us to join them. The girls both looked so cute, all dressed up to go to “the theatre!”

I have to say, for a 2-1/2 hour show that was all classical music and ballet dancing, with no talking or singing to explain the story, our girls were VERY well behaved! Aside from my having to tell my daughter once early on, “Please stop fidgeting in your seat!” To which she responded, “Why?” and I answered, “Because it is very distracting to me and to the people around you.” But that was it, so I was very proud of her! (My poor children -- manners are a big thing with me -- I'm sure they'll find me to be quite a drag!)

I think it is so wonderful to expose your children to different types of cultural events. It is so important to broaden their horizons and to show them that there is a world beyond Gameboy and the Disney Channel (not that those aren't wonderful things, but...). I feel fortunate that my parents raised me to have an appreciation of music, in particular, classical. And I have wonderful memories of getting dressed up at Christmastime and going to see The Nutcracker at the Eastman Theatre with my grandparents.

Offering your children the opportunity to experience a cultural event does not have to break the bank! Check out your local high schools - there are a lot of talented kids performing in school concerts, musicals and plays. Or check your local paper or entertainment guide for free or inexpensive concerts and performances - my town has Gazebo Concerts on Sundays at our town hall, and there are Concerts by the Shore down at the beach, just to name a few! And, don't forget your local history museum or art gallery - there are so many options for opening up new worlds to your children.

Who knows, maybe one of these will inspire your child to be the next Georgia O'Keeffe or Mikhail Baryshnikov? I know that after the ballet, my daughter went to school and drew a lovely picture of herself in a tutu and labeled it "Me as a Famous Dancer!"