Nature's Mothers Day Art

Mother Nature is a strong and consistent force in our lives, just like any mother in our lives who work hard and keep on going.  Why don’t we look at some beautiful, simple and environmentally friendly art!

Flower lanterns are a simple and fun Mother’s Day gift to make and give. Even just for any gift. You only need a few supplies and time. 

Supplies:

• Tissue paper: You can try any color, but we used white. So the flowers stood out.
• Elmers Glue-All or Modge Podge.
• Balloons. 
• Paint brush or foam sponge brushes work too.
• A container to hold your lanterns.
• Flame-less tea light
• Water
• Create flowers with some of the tissue paper or construction paper! (Or find and flatten some flowers)
  

Step 1 

Take part of the tissue paper you grabbed and cut out simple or elaborate flower shapes! You can either colour them or cut them from coloured tissue or construction paper. If you want flowers to pop I do suggest the construction paper route. You can even grab fro flowers and flatten them in books and use those for them to stand out more.

Then cut the plain tissue paper into strips to make it easier to apply onto the balloon evenly. 

This can even work for fall. You can look for leaves that are on the ground in a bunch of colours and styles and use those instead. 

Step 2

Get your balloon station set up with a bowl to hold the balloon. Blow up a balloon and set it in the bowl for it to hold still. 

Have another bowl to make the glue; half a bottle of Elmer's glue & equal parts water.

Plus your tissue paper that was previously cut up both for the lantern (plain/white) and the flowers. 

Step 3 

Cover the balloon with the paper with water first to set it down and help it easily peel away from the balloon when done. Make sure to leave space before the bowl  so you're able to pop & take out the balloon.

Step 4 

Add the next layer of paper and glue those down. Add the tissue/construction flowers (or flattened flowers) while it is wet so that they get applied and stick. Then add another layer of paper to hold them down. You can add more tissue paper if you want but 3 layers should be good for allowing the light through. 

Step 5 

Let it dry!

Set them aside so they will be safe from your rambunctious children as they will need about 6 hours to dry fully.

Step 6 

When they're fully dry, pop the balloons! You can use a pin, toothpick or knife; make sure to remind the kids of sharp object safety in the process. You can even cut the edge of the end a bit more to make it more of an even bowl if you feel its a bit messy; but be careful not to tear the lantern.

Step 7

Put in the flame-less tea light! Since this is made with tissue paper it has a higher chance of catching fire and burning. A flame-less tea light will be bright enough to show through about 3-4 layers of tissue paper at night!

There you have it, a simple, fun and cute lantern to create with the kids or by yourself!