Egg Carton Tulips

Using individual egg cartons ripped from the box and pipe cleaners, Squidgee and I made some flowers.

I love reusing what would otherwise be trash in a craft project. Usually I use egg cartons to hold paint (see that sidebar?) but this time around we decided to paint them instead. (And used a paper plate as a palette instead.)

Here's What You Need:

• Cardboard Egg Carton
• Craft paints
• paint brushes
• Pipe Cleaners, yellow and green
• Pencil (for hole poking.)

Here's What You Do:

        1. Tear egg carton into individual cups,or cut them if you prefer to be neat. 

        2. Have your octopus paint the cups different colors.

        3. Let them dry.

        4. Punch a hole with a pencil in the bottom of each cup.

        5. Take a yellow pipe cleaner and fold it in half. Insert the folded end into the hole from the inside of the cup so you have a loop coming out the bottom.

        6. Put an end of a green pipe cleaner through the loop of the yellow pipe cleaner. Fold the end down and twist around the other end of the green pipe cleaner to hold it to the yellow one.  Push up the twisted "knot" so it's snug in the hole of the "flower".

        7. Twirl the ends of the yellow pipe cleaner around the pencil to make it look more... I dunno, pistil and stameny. (Yeah, I just made stamen an adjective; my high school English teacher and Biology teacher would be impressed.)

        8. Make a bunch and put them in a cup for pertiness. (Excuse me. It's getting late, I get punchy.)

Easy Pea-sy Garden Markers

It's planting season here in New England. Sometimes it's hard to remember where you planted what. We made these cute little garden markers to remind us using just a little patio paint (I bought a sampler pack on clearance in the flower pot section at our craft store) on some leftover shims (you can get a bunch at your local hardware store for a couple dollars.). Now, I do actually know what and where my strawberry plants are especially since they are actually growing actual berries (and poison ivy, too, color me upset!) but they were so much fun to make and came out so cute, I made a marker for them anyway. And my tomatoes too! If you know what grows in your grandparents' gardens, they'd make a great  Mother's Day or Father's Day gift too. Cheap, cute and easy peasy.